They've been in the Northern Water Tribe for nearly a month. Aang and Katara train with Pakku. Katara's quickly mastering the fighting along with learning from Yugoda and helping Ming. While she may not be able to heal the surface scars she has been able to reduce the amount of scar tissue underneath the skin considerably. Yugoda has also taught her about flow of chakras though she supplements the training with her scroll and how to delve deep into the body to heal someone. There's more reading and memorizing of body parts than she expected. With Master Pakku she advances through the forms quickly, quicker than Aang, though for the first week Pakku had to keep correcting her stances due to learning from scrolls or learning during the heat of a battle or - he doesn't know it - learning from fire benders.

Sokka has been training with the warriors but he has a tendency to wander of in the direction of the engineering studios afterwards, that is if he's not with Yue. He strolls around the city with her whenever possible, always chaperoned, always careful to keep a few inches between them, always excited to see her smile when he does something goofy. They don't talk about it, he doesn't even know who her fiancé is, she hasn't said a word about him but every now and then on accident his shoulder will brush up against hers or their hands will touch for a moment and hover there neither wanting to move before she draws back. They talk about everything and nothing from the war to the city's infrastructure to what they like to do for fun to the shape of the clouds and the weather that day.

. . .

Zuko has been in hiding for about a month on Zhao's ship. He's careful to wear his helmet all the time and when he takes it off to sleep, sleeps in the darkest corners. He eats in private, his head tucked low just in case. He doesn't talk to anyone except his uncle on rare occasions when they pass in the halls and no one else is around. His days are spent roaming the halls, he blends in with everyone else for the first time in his life and no one questions him, no one even notices that he's there most of the time, just one more soldier on a ship full of them. Occasionally he'll stop and look at the people around him. Dress code -complete with face masks - is enforced here so even if any of his old men are here, he doesn't recognize them. Sometimes a voice will sound familiar but it always stops before he gets close enough to be able to tell for sure. Uncle tells him that Jee, Yoro, and Asoko are on this ship.

Right now he sits in a corner of the mess hall, a hurriedly whispered conversation taking place nearby. They either don't notice him, don't think he can hear them or just flat out don't care and he catches a few words and phrases. "…No, I heard something else…..yeah I heard about that too…..someone went to the Western Air Temple." Zuko's ears perk up, none of the voices are familiar, that means the story really is spreading! Hope flares in his chest. "It isn't a conspiracy theory this time guys….no I'm serious…yeah, they've been lying to us this whole time…"A commander walks in and the conversation cuts off before quickly and loudly turning to the weather. Zuko gets up and walks out with his bowl of eel rice.

He walks along the hallways, going nowhere in particular to eat. He can't actually do any jobs around the ship or else people might get to familiar with him and his privacy would be gone. His head is down, looking at his feet and the grains of rice when the bowl is knocked out of his hands and to the ground along with him getting jostled out of the way. "Hey! Watch where you're going!"

The other masked soldier hurriedly picks up the bowl. "I'm sorry I wasn't looking. Admiral Ass has me running all around the ship, I didn't even see you." The man's voice is vaguely familiar. He hands the bowl and some of the spilled rice to Zuko. "You okay?"

Zuko brushes him off, "I'm fine," and begins to walk off.

"Hey, wait a minute." The soldier grabs his arm. "I didn't catch your name."

"Why would you need it?"

The soldier pulls down his mask, Asoko's sharp features are revealed. "Okay Prince Zuko, what are you doing here?"

Zuko hisses and pulls Asoko into a nearby room, thankfully it's empty of people though it is packed with brooms. "How did you know it was me?"

Asoko laughs, "I served under you for two years, I know your voice."

Zuko removes the mask and pinches his nose in frustration. "Don't tell anyone I'm here, Zhao thinks I'm dead."

"Yeah I heard that your ship got blown up, what happened."

"Zhao happened."

"That explains it. So what's the plan now? How are you going to get back to the Fire Nation and stop the war?"

Zuko chokes, "What? How did you know about that?"

"Lieutenant Jee told me," He shrugs. "We've been working on spreading the story, people are beginning to doubt this war even more."

"Good. Right now I need to focus on getting to the North Pole so I can talk with the Avatar."

"We're headed there. We'll be there tomorrow afternoon."

"I know but I need to get there before the bulk of the invasion force gets there."

Asoko nods in agreement, "You could use one of the patrol ships. Tomorrow morning we should be close enough that you can get there on one."

. . .

Katara sits on the floor, Ming's legs in front of her and the healing water wrapped around them. It's nearly evening and she's exhausted from an extended lesson this morning that stretched into the afternoon but the healing session seems to be helping both of them. Conversation is easy between the two women and it's been weeks since Yugoda had to come with Katara. "So, hows bending training going?"

Katara grins, "I kicked butt today and I'm controlling even larger waves!"

"Good for you," Ming smiles at her. "It's a full moon soon, I can feel it," she notes.

"I can too. I feel almost tingly all over."

Ming laughs, "Yeah, you'll get used to it. It's stronger as you're stronger. I once brought down a sea serpent all on my own during the full moon, it was awesome!"

"Really, that's incredible!"

"It was. That's about the time that ships started really looking to hire me, even up here." Ming laughs at the memory before glancing down at her legs. "It cost me a lot, to do what I love but I'll never stop sailing. If I didn't do it, I don't know who I'd be." Ming glances at the younger woman, hesitant to ask, "So how about you, what did you do that cost you so much?"

Katara tenses, she can't talk about it. "Wrong place, wrong time."

"The Fire Nation?"

"I guess so but they're not all responsible for what he did."

Ming's hand rests on her shoulder, gently squeezing. "Not a lot of people can differentiate between one person and their people."

The healing stops and Katara hugs her knees to her chest. "They're not bad people. We can't hate them all just because of a few bad ones and a bunch of people who are just trying to protect their families."

"Thank you. You have no idea how different things would be if everyone thought like that."

"How did your family do it?"

Ming sighs, "They didn't. We moved around a lot but eventually someone killed them because they were different, 'unnatural'."

Katara gasps, "I'm so sorry!"

"Don't be, it was a long time ago."

. . .

Iroh stands in the war room with Admiral Zhao - Admiral Ass as his men have taken to calling him. "Just think, centuries from now people will study the great Admiral Zhao who destroyed the last of the Water Tribe barbarians!" Zhao is gloating, Iroh detests the man and the gloating isn't helping.

"Be careful what you wish for Admiral. History is not always kind to its subjects."

Zhao laughs cruelly, "Oh don't worry. This will be nothing like your legendary defeat at Ba Sing Se, nothing could go as poorly as that." It's becoming easier and easier to see why Ozai promoted this man so quickly.

Iroh forces out a smile. "I hope not, for your sake." He will not strangle, slam, or maim the Admiral. He has to keep telling himself that.

. . .

Jee, Asoko, and Yoro stand against the wall having already given their advice for the upcoming venture. General Iroh stands next to Prince Zuko, fretting. "Have you thought this through, Nephew?"

"Yes Uncle, I'll be fine."

"Be careful. You catch more bees with honey than you do with vinegar."

"Uncle, I don't need a proverb right now." Zuko's voice lacks the usual edge.

"I know, I just want you to know how much I care about you. Ever since I lost Lu Ten -"

"You don't have to say it." Each of the men standing in the background avert their eyes from this private family moment.

Uncle continues, "I think of you as my own son."

Zuko nods, blinking back tears. "I know Uncle. We'll meet again."

Iroh rushes forward, enveloping his nephew in a tight hug. "I know we will, my nephew." Zuko leaves quickly after that, trying to hold back the tears until he's far away. Iroh watches him sail off, fear clutching his old heart. This isn't the first time a son of his has gone off into the morning mist, he just hopes that this time will be different.

Eventually Iroh turns around and closes the hatch before looking at the three men in front of him. He's no longer the odd old man they're used to seeing but instead he carries himself like the general he once was. "We have to stop Zhao. He intends to completely wipe out the Northern Water Tribe and that cannot happen. You all know that this war is unjust. We got Prince Zuko to the North Pole, now we have to try and stop the attack as much as we can. It's now or never. Jee, give your orders late, try to create chaos. Asoko, Zhao has you communicating with the other vessels. Talk to whoever you can trust, I want you to try and cripple the war machines, as many as you can. Yoro, you need to get people drunk, asleep, sick, anything you can think of that will take people out without hurting them. We only have a few hours before the first wave attacks, work swiftly. May Agni protect you all."

. . .

Aang lounges about on the snow playing with Momo while Katara trains. He's supposed to be training but watching Momo chase his tail is just so much more fun, besides he's the Avatar he'll figure it all out. Water bending isn't that hard. "Pupil Aang!" Master Pakku's harsh voice cuts through Aang's fun.

"Yes?"

"Care to step into the sparring circle with Katara? Since you've found time to play with house pets, obviously you've already mastered water bending."

"I wouldn't say mastered, but check this out!" Aang spins around quickly piling snow onto himself. After a moment he stops and a snowman stands in his place. Momo doesn't appreciate it and knocks Aang over, the snowman falling apart. Pakku and Katara don't appreciate it either. Pakku smacks Momo smartly on the rear with a water whip before rounding on Aang, a large wave washing the Avatar onto the stairs.

. . .

Sokka stands beside Yue. Today they're walking around the palace, much farther apart from each other than usual though there's no chaperone this time. "So, there are no palaces in the South Pole?"

"Nope," he laughs. "I pretty much grew up on an ice block. Our wall was about fifteen feet tall and it doubled as the sledding hill sometimes. Our houses, well they weren't anything like the ones here so yeah, definitely no palaces."

"But your father was the chief, didn't you have something special because of that?"

"Why would we? I mean, we had a nice polar fox pelt for our door but that's only because my dad caught it. Katara was the only bender and she sucked and building anything large would have taken too long."

She nods, "I guess that makes sense. Our tribes are completely different, I wish I could see yours."

Sokka stops walking. "You could."

Yue stops too, "What?"

"You could come away with me. You'd be able to make your own decisions, do whatever you'd like, go wherever you'd like, marry whoever you'd like."

"No, I can't!"

"What's stopping you?"

"I'm engaged, I care about my people, I have to stay for them."

"So what you can grow old with a man you don't like, having no real say in what happens to the people you care about so much! Whether you stay or not won't matter as far as taking care of them because some guy is going to come and do the job you're meant to do whether you're here or not!"

"I have my duties, to my father, to my tribe!"

"You aren't marrying your duties and your duties aren't the ones that will have to live out the rest of their life stuck somewhere that suffocates them!"

Tears spring to her eyes and she's aware of the people watching them. "I can't see you anymore Sokka. I have to do this, goodbye!" She runs off, faster than a lady is supposed to but not nearly fast enough for her liking. Sokka stands there with his heart on the floor before stomping out of the palace.

He makes it to the stairs outside before stopping. It's snowing. The only problem is that it's snowing black. Sokka's eyes widen and his fight with Yue slips to the background of his mind. "Soot," he mutters before bounding back into the palace.

. . .

Katara's bending out of the canal, creating little water penguins for the kids to chase. She's taking a break from the rigorous schedule of the past few weeks. As she bends the water gets darker. She's speechless and for a second thrown back years ago to the Southern Water Tribe when black snow fell.

. . .

Aang's rolling around in the snow making a snow angel. Momo's chasing after snowflakes but gags at a darker one. Aang opens his eyes to a dark cloud overhead.

. . .

Ming walks out the door, a satchel over one shoulder ready to go fishing. She stops and swears before going back inside to get changed into leather armor.

. . .

Chief Arnook stands on the platform outside of the palace Yue and Pakku behind him, addressing the large crowd that has gathered there in fear. Honestly, he's scared too. "The day we've feared for so long is here. The Fire Nation is on our doorstep. It is with great sadness that I call my family here, knowing well that some of the faces" - many of the faces - "are about to vanish from our tribe, but they will never vanish from our hearts." If there's anyone left to remember them. "Now, as we approach the battle for our survival I call upon the Great Spirits! Spirit of the Ocean, Spirit of the Moon, be with us!" He pauses in prayer before continuing. "I need volunteers for a dangerous mission. We need to take out their admiral and take out as many of the ships as we can."

Sokka stands, he's the first volunteer. Katara grabs his sleeve to pull him back down but he walks on. Other men, young and old join him at the front of the room. Yue looks at him, holding back tears and turns away from him. "Be warned, many of you will not return. Come forward to receive my mark if you are willing." Sokka is second in line. On his turn he approaches Chief Arnook and gets three blood red lines drawn on his forehead. He looks at Yue who's now weeping silently. She looks back and for a moment it's just them. She doesn't want him to go but he turns to face the crowd, steeling himself for the mission. Yue sees the man she's supposed to marry, also in line. She hates herself for it but for one second she prays that he won't return.

. . .

Aang stands on the battlements looking out over the oncoming ships. "I wasn't there when the Fire Nation attacked my people. I'm gonna make a difference this time." Soldiers stand atop the wall, all readying for the oncoming storm.