Author's Notes: (Edited April 28, 2021): Changed a lot more than I thought I would with this one! I was only going to do light edits but I actually rewrote a significant portion of this. Basically, I gave more characterization to everyone here since they were all a bit bland - especially Zuko, Sokka, and our Roku Warrior.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender and I am in no way associated with the creators of the show.

Book 1: Fire

Chapter 4: The Warriors of Roku

Aang ducked underneath the shards of green crystal that exploded overhead, blown to pieces by the streak of lightning aimed at him. Aang twisted around and captured all the shards in midair, hurling them at his pursuers with a burst of wind that propelled them even faster. He didn't look long enough to see if they found any of their targets. Staying and fighting was not an option, not when they had to flee through the catacombs of Ba Sing Se. They'd already tried fighting, tried taking back the city with just the seven of them, like Azula had managed with only three. But they'd failed and paid dearly for it.

The Dai Li knew these tunnels better than they did. Toph did everything she could to ward them off and direct them down the tunnels without any enemies, but they were massively outnumbered.

Zuko turned and threw his own fork of lightning at their pursuers and Azula's laugh echoed down the tunnels. That sound haunted Aang, chasing him through his dreams even more than Ozai's laughter did.

One Dai Li agent sprung out at them from behind a cluster of crystals but before any of them could do anything he collapsed, revealing Ty Lee behind him. Zuko drew his broadswords when he saw Mai step out alongside her. She looked almost like a wraith, paler than usual and cloaked in shadow.

"Wait," said Mai. "We want to help you."

Katara, despite her wounded shoulder, forced herself forward and glared at them. "There's no way we'd trust you. Either of you."

But Toph didn't attack. Neither did Zuko. It made Aang consider that they might've been telling the truth. But Aang had no softness in his heart left for them, either - they'd stood aside and allowed all of Azula's atrocities. Ty Lee was the reason they'd been captured in Ba Sing Se in the first place.

"There's a tunnel down there that leads to a waterway," Ty Lee said, eyes wide as she pointed down the tunnel they came from. "You can get aboveground from there to some old farm. It'll be safe."

Toph grunted. "She's telling the truth."

"Unless she learned to lie like Azula does," said Haru.

Sokka had his sword drawn in his left hand rather than his right because of a broken arm, but he lowered the weapon. "We don't have time to debate. Let's go."

Suki held her fighting stance, unwilling to let down her defenses for even a moment against Ty Lee. "We're just gonna leave them?"

"We'll face Azula," Mai said, as Aang and Katara passed by her. She only had eyes for Zuko, though. "You have to go. Now."

"Come with us," Zuko said finally. "You don't know what Azula will do when she finds you..."

"I think we know better than anyone, Zuko," Mai said, cutting him off. "But we've made our choice."

They made their choice. All their choices led them here and their eyes showed all the ways they had tried to justify those choices to themselves. Anything so that they could live with it. Aang wondered what could have been different, what made this occasion different, but he didn't linger. He knew he'd never see them again, but he couldn't summon words to express the pity he felt for them.

The next time they encountered Azula, she had been alone.


When he awoke that morning, he could still smell the lightning in the air. Dreams - or rather nightmares - of his struggles and tribulations often plagued him when he slept, but that one felt more vivid than usual.

Before their departure from the islet on which they made camp, Zuko put together a breakfast of rice with sweet peanut sauce to hold them over until they reached their destination later in the day. While they ate, Aang found his gaze drawn to Azula, the echo of another Azula's laughter ringing in his ears. He considered his words for a moment, weighing them on his tongue.

"Azula," he said. She lowered her rice bowl, regarding him with an inquisitive eyebrow. "Since we're heading to the Golden City to learn firebending after we visit Crescent Island, can I see what you can do already?"

"Why?" she asked. Always 'why.' Aang couldn't help but compare her to Katara in moments like these. Katara would have loved the chance to waterbend any moment she could despite her early lack of confidence, especially before becoming a master. But this Azula questioned just about everything he said.

He had his answer ready. "I just want to make sure I can count on you in a fight, that's all. This journey's going to be a dangerous one."

Judging by the curl of her lips, that answer seemed to amuse her. "Can't a girl hold some of her techniques close? I like to have the element of surprise on occasion. And what about Zuko? I don't see you putting him through some sort of test."

In reality, seeing a version of Azula without mastery of her deadly skills made Aang feel safer, more separated from the one who chased his sleep. He just wanted to make sure. He responded by standing and shaking his arms and legs out to limber them up. "C'mon, bender to bender. Zuko's only got his swords and I don't know how to use those, so I can't really judge."

Zuko frowned as he stifled the campfire. "Consider me lucky, I guess."

Azula gently placed down her bowl and rose to her feet. "Well, if you insist." She took a somewhat clumsy stance Aang didn't recognize, but he couldn't remember the proper firebending stances anyway. Without taking the time to stretch out or breathe deeply, she punched a fist toward him and unleashed a gout of red flame.

He circled the winds around himself and jumped back, but she kept her distance and punched more fireballs at him with shouts and grunts. After he gave her some time to tire herself out, he leapt closer to her to see how she'd handle some of his own attacks. He circled and forced his hand forward in a palm strike, but she surprised him by grabbing that arm and holding it under hers, locking him in place so that she could nail him with a point-blank attack from her free hand. Eyes wide, he ducked underneath it and knocked her legs out from under her with a sweeping kick. She landed on her back with a groan, ending the quick spar.

"Alright, master airbender," she said, sitting up and rubbing her back. "Did you enjoy getting to lord your power over an untrained novice?"

He scratched the back of his head, sheepish. "Sorry. I won't do that again," he said, completely honest. She might've fought better than Katara did when he'd first met her, but she was nowhere near the level of her murderous counterpart. He felt a little ashamed to admit it, but it did make him feel better. He held a hand out to her to help her up. "That was a neat trick at the end there, though."

"Father may not have found a firebending master for me anywhere in the archipelago," she said, accepting his helping hand - perhaps begrudgingly, "but I do have an older cousin who taught me some martial arts. That same cousin also taught me a little bit of how to hunt with a bow... especially since Zuzu over there always insisted on just using his swords."

Zuko scowled. "You were trying to compensate for not having a firebending master and didn't want to be left out. I just preferred to focus on training what I could be best at."

Azula ignored him and brushed off her clothes. "He was always just stubborn. Well, Avatar, do I pass your judgment?"

He tried to look apologetic, pressing his palms together with a wide smile. "Of course. Thanks, Azula."


Many of the Fire Nation's Outer Islands passed by underneath them as they sped along the ocean. It felt almost strange to fly without cloud cover, but the Fire Nation was no longer the den of all his enemies. He still didn't feel completely at ease - he wasn't sure if he ever would feel true safety - but he felt safe enough to fly the way they used to. Before the Comet.

Above them, the sun was at its zenith, white heron-gulls sailed overhead, and the ocean waves rolled. Everything seemed so similar to what Aang was familiar to; except for the people he was traveling with, he felt like he was at home. Sabi, his new lemur friend, curled around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder. She differed from Momo in many ways, but he liked her company.

They reached their destination when Aang saw the crescent-shaped island in the distance. It looked the same as ever—the volcanic mountain peaks loomed over the rest of the island. Upon closer inspection, however, he realized that the volcano was completely dormant and rather than desolate stone he spotted lush vegetation all over the island. He also noticed that Roku's temple was missing from its rocky slopes. The lack of the temple disheartened him and he began wondering if there was any hope at all for him to return to true familiarity, the world that he called home.

The sight of a single wooden pagoda poking out of the trees pulled Aang from his dark thoughts. Looking closer, he spotted many other dwellings carved from the leafy trees of the surrounding forests. The arrangement of the houses seemed to be scattered and random, some on higher elevations than others to suit the uneven land. Now he knew why the island was infested with trees. These people must have come here many years ago, and the roots of the crops and other plants they buried softened the hard rock into soil, allowing trees and other vegetation to grow. If there ever was a temple devoted to Avatar Roku, it was only a thing of the past, probably destroyed many, many years before, assuming Avatar Roku even existed in this world.

Then Aang realized a mistake he had made during their travels. They had often flown low to the ground, and while Zuko and Azula didn't know his reasons, Aang wanted to be seen by Sokka. He wanted to see his friend even though he was so much different from the friend he knew. He was Sokka, and that was all that mattered. Now, he realized it was a serious blunder on his part. He wanted Sokka to find them, but his arrival could wind up bringing harm to the villagers...

The bison landed on the side of the island hidden from the rest of the village, on the outer curve of the crescent. He did not know if these people were hostile or not, and he didn't want to take a chance. That philosophy was trained into him during the years after Sozin's Comet. Whenever he and his friends were out of supplies, they resorted to stealing from Fire Nation soldiers to survive. They had become known throughout the world as mysterious shadows coming and going, freeing villages from the Fire Nation clutches, a temporary reprieve in most cases until the Fire Nation just marched back in after they left or burned those villages to the ground for their insurrection. After the Comet, Ozai's reach extended to most of the world.

Aang's plan was to watch the village secretly for a short while, and see if they were friendly enough to let them enter safely. Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Zuko often had to resort to spying for that reason, and if the town wasn't deemed safe enough, they stole. That was the way things went. None of them liked it, but they needed to survive. They were constantly on the move—they had to be, with no safe places left in the world.

In the world he was familiar with, Zuko and Sokka were both master swordsmen, always training with each other and getting stronger. Zuko had become a fearsome fighter and firebender nearly on par with his sister. Aang looked over at this Zuko as the older boy kept his eyes on the ocean, almost fearful of it - a far cry from the young man he became in Aang's world. Whenever this Zuko looked over his shoulder Aang thought he'd run away. The Zuko Aang knew didn't fear much of anything. Aang's gaze found the broadswords sheathed on his back. He found it odd that both Zukos used the same weapon, but only the one he knew was able to firebend.

Sabi screeched and flew into the air, flapping her wings frantically, and that was the only warning Aang had for the impending danger. Before he could get the staff from his back, he found his legs pinned to the floor by a thin knife that caught on his trousers. Before they could even react, Azula was pinned in the same way and Zuko's sleeve was stuck to a tree. Zuko pulled one of his swords out and started swinging it madly, as if to deflect any more of the projectiles, but he swung at only air. Aang was in the process of pulling the deeply imbedded knives out when a black-clad girl appeared in front of him, holding other knives ready. Other figures similarly clothed jumped from the trees, wielding more knives, arrows, darts, needles, and throwing stars. Aang narrowed his eyes and held up his arms in a gesture of surrender. If he could bend earth, they would have had a fighting chance.

"Who are you?" one of the women asked. She walked calmly out of the foliage, seemingly unarmed. Her voice was drab and monotonous. He was surprised to see someone he recognized, a former enemy. She was one of Azula's old friends, Mai, and Aang narrowed his eyes when he saw her. She'd always been dangerous, but by the time Zuko joined forces with Aang she always seemed more and more reluctant.

"We could ask the same of you," Zuko retorted. "Let us go!"

Since they were of the Fire Nation, Aang assumed they were allies. He nearly laughed at his thoughts, but it was true in this twisted world. "I am the Avatar," Aang told them. "Let us go. We mean you and your village no harm."

"Prove it," one of the other women said, as monotonously as Mai. "The Avatar abandoned us one hundred years ago."

Aang sighed, and created a swirling ball of air in his hand. "Look, I'm an airbender. Satisfied?"

Mai's face betrayed no hint of surprise, but with the mask covering her nose and mouth it was hard to tell. "'Satisfied' might be a strong word," she said. "But I guess you should probably come to our village." Aang got the impression that she might've even been irritated at the identity of her surprise guest, like she wasn't sure if hosting him would be worth the energy.

Zuko looked at Aang and shrugged. Mai's warriors went ahead of them, leading the way. "We are sorry," said another of the warriors. "Our island has been left out of the war for the greater portion of this last century, but lately the Water Tribes have been attacking our shores. Our island is the closest to the Earth Kingdom and away from the protection of the rest of the Fire Nation. We have been wary of everything."

"We understand," Aang said. "But I have a question." Mai looked at him, nodding curtly for him to continue. "This island—is there a sort of... shrine or temple or anything... dedicated to Avatar Roku?" he asked hopefully.

"Avatar Roku?" she asked. A weight dropped into his stomach. Did he not exist...? "Avatar Roku hasn't been around since before Kyoshi, several hundred years ago. What could you possibly want with him?"

Aang nearly sighed with relief, but Zuko and Azula looked at him questioningly. It didn't matter when he lived as long as Aang could contact him. "I need to ask him something," he replied. "Is it possible?"

"I don't think so, unless you make a habit out of talking to dead guys," Mai replied, the sharpness of her tone alerting Aang to how crazy that sounded. Even Azula regarded him with disbelief, and an embarrassed groan. "There was once a temple here dedicated to him, many years ago, but it was swallowed by a tsunami. None of it's left." Aang lowered his eyes. Was there anywhere else to get some kind of help? He couldn't stay in this place forever. "Today, he only exists through our name. We are the Roku Warriors."

The pieces came together with a jolt. Suki! She was just like Suki! Well, not quite, but it was an eerie parallel. I'll think more on it later, he thought, because after they rounded the next copse of trees wound together as if in knots, they made it to the village.


The Roku Warriors were different from the Kyoshi Warriors. The fan-wielding fighters were swift and fought much like waterbenders—redirecting their opponent's force against them. They deflected attacks, mastered all sorts of weapons, and fought to subdue rather than defeat. The Roku Warriors were just as agile, but they were more suited to stealth than outright fighting. They all wielded knives, just like Mai. That's something else I should think about, Aang thought later, Mai used the same weapons in my world. He also noticed that they were keen on ceremony from everything to the upkeep of their knives to serving tea.

The people of Crescent Island did not offer the same warm welcome that Kyoshi did. They'd given Aang, Zuko, and Azula a room in the village inn, more food than they could eat, and a handful of attendants that might have also been more Roku Warriors, but for the most part the villagers kept to themselves. He'd come to learn that they had recently withstood a waterbender attack, and they sought to rebuild so they didn't have much time for anything like a welcome party. Aang supposed he should have appeared publicly to them, maybe to give them hope, but he couldn't bring himself to. This wasn't his world. These people weren't his responsibility.

He drummed his fingers against the low table in the center of the room, staring at his empty soup bowl. The sharp scent of freshly lacquered wood from the floorboards made him feel almost lightheaded, but he tried to focus his thoughts. Aang couldn't keep the idea out of his head that he had endangered this village by potentially leading Sokka here - on purpose - so he didn't want to linger too long. These people may not have been his responsibility, but he still didn't want to needlessly endanger them.

Azula jadedly snapped her fingers as if bored, releasing small spurts of red fire into the air, which dissipated as soon as it was lit. It was still unnerving to see her bend red fire instead of her trademark blue flames, especially since Aang had never seen her use red back in his world. Her golden eyes turned to his grey ones from across the room. She had a calculating look in her eyes, but Aang turned his head away, not realizing he was staring.

"What are you staring at?" she snapped. He was saved from replying by a knock on the door. Azula sighed. "Come in."

"Sorry to disturb you," Mai said, opening the door. "But the rest of the village wants to know if you're expecting a feast in your honor, or something."

"You really don't have to," Aang said, standing and scratching the back of his head. He honestly didn't care, but he wondered if the whole village lacked devotion to the Avatar they named their warriors after or if it was just Mai.

Mai gave a half-hearted shrug. "Oh, that's a shame. I thought we could have used something to break up the dreariness around here."

Aang floundered, surprised at that response. "Wait, so does that mean you do want a party?"

Zuko stood up before Mai could answer Aang. "That was great knife-throwing back there," he commented. "You took advantage of my main weakness, long range. I don't really get beaten in a fight much."

Azula snorted. "Please, Zuzu, show a little more humility. We met Mai's baby brother outside and I think even he would beat you, 'long range' or not."

"I find that claim hard to believe with the way you swing those pieces of metal around," Mai said, folding her arms and looking sincerely unimpressed. "There are plenty of old women here deadlier with those weapons than you are." Aang wasn't able to stifle his laugh, remembering a moment when they returned to the South Pole after the Comet, for a safe haven. Gran-Gran had slapped the firebender as soon as she recognized him, but later accepted him as part of the family once Katara and Sokka filled her in on the details.

Zuko turned to him angrily. "Don't you start too!" he threatened, pointing a finger at Aang.

"Hey, leave me out out of this," he said, putting his hands up and snickering. He also found it pretty funny that Azula, of all people, told Zuko to be more humble, but he kept his mouth shut.

Zuko's face reddened and he pinched the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed. "I'm gonna go shopping for more supplies," he said, and he turned around to leave the room without another comment.

After he left, Azula turned to Aang and Mai with mock concern on her face. "Aw, looks like he got embarrassed. Serves him right for trying to show off for Mai."

Aang frowned. "Maybe that was a little mean..."

Mai shrugged. "It's true. A lot of people tend to underestimate the old ladies here." Azula laughed at that, and even Mai cracked a smile.

"Is everyone really trained to fight like that here?" Aang asked, wondering if traces of friendship started to form between the two girls like in his world. Maybe it would be a more genuine friendship here, he supposed, but he couldn't deny that he found the thought a little scary. "Avatar Roku started the tradition, right? Why?"

Mai lowered to the floor next to the table and tucked her legs under her, smoothing out her ao dai. "Historically, it was to uphold the era of peace put in place by Avatar Yangchen, his predecessor. During Roku's time, we were a worldwide organization - based here - that operated from the shadows of society, maintaining their ideals and fighting corruption at all levels. That's why our training extends beyond just fighting. According to his own records, he wanted us to do things that even similar contemporary societies wouldn't do."

"Wait, Yangchen was his predecessor? I thought he was right before me," Aang said, scratching his head. She'd said something similar before, but it was only now that he really thought about it. "And what about Kyoshi?" He wondered what kind of hand Roku had been dealt to go to such measures. And did this mean the Kyoshi Warriors didn't exist? He had so many questions about this world, but he wasn't sure if Mai was the right person to have all the answers.

Mai rolled her eyes. "I think you need to remember your history lessons, Avatar. Roku lived centuries ago."

Azula snickered again. "Is this related to the joke you made the other day about the seasons going in the wrong order?"

Aang crossed his arms, starting to get an idea of how Zuko felt. Being in the same room as Azula and Mai just felt like a trap. "Sorry," he grumbled. "Guess I slept through history too much."

"Well, moving on, a secret worldwide cabal of warriors loyal to the Avatar sounds promising," said Azula, her eyes lit up. "I suppose we can count on that support throughout our journey."

Mai stood again and walked to a shelf with a wall scroll depicting a painted dragon that looked a lot like Fang, Roku's animal guide. "Not really," she said, folding her hands in her wide sleeves. Aang couldn't read the expression on her face, but she did let out a sigh. "Since then our numbers have dwindled. A lot. Now we're lucky to get intel on the rest of the Fire Nation, let alone the whole world. The Water Tribes are just too widespread. So all of the Roku Warriors we have left stay confined to the island. It's so boring."

Aang's eyes widened. It would've been helpful to have their support throughout the world, but he couldn't fault them for anything that might have happened in the last hundred years or more. He hadn't expected something so proactive from Roku to begin with. Who would have guessed history could change so significantly just from the order of the Avatars being different?

"Whatever," Mai replied, waving her hand as if nonplussed by the whole thing. "All that's ancient history now, too. If you want, you can come to our dojo, where we do most of our training. Just don't expect me to be your tour guide or something."

Aang looked to Azula and they both shrugged. "I don't see why not," he said.

Mai led them outside and through the village hidden in the leaves. Almost every building had been made of wood, in a scattering of elevations that it made it look like they haphazardly clung to the mountainside, with sloped roofs that ended in dragon claw points. The trail from the inn up to the dojo near the mountaintop was winding and narrow, dotted at each juncture with a small stone shrine and lined with hibiscus bushes. All of the trees kept the village shaded from the hot sun and effectively hidden as well - Aang suspected he wouldn't have spotted it from the sky unless he specifically sought it. The forest was thick and lively, and the pungent but not unpleasant smell of ripe cashew fruits hung in the air, accompanying them on their walk up to the dojo. The townspeople greeted them with polite bows as they passed, as respectful to Aang as they were to Mai, and just as distant.

"They're nice," said Azula, after they passed by a child who seemed far too composed for their age. "Though I'm surprised at the lack of... friendliness." She blanched as she said it. "Not that I want to walk hand-in-hand with anyone here, mind you. But I'm surprised people aren't fawning at the Avatar's return."

Aang pulled at his collar. "Not that I need the appreciation or anything," he said. "I know you've suffered through attacks recently."

"That's part of it," said Mai. "But the other part is just tradition. Growing up I was told to sit still, speak only when spoken to. Respect the elders and my superiors. And my father is the leader of the village, so those feelings and reactions extend to me, I guess."

Azula laughed into the back of her hand. "Doesn't sound so bad to me. I guess that explains why people were falling over themselves bowing to your father and baby brother earlier."

"Oh, yeah. Tom-Tom loves it."

After a bit of a hike, they made it to a wide building nestled under the shade of a bodhi tree with wide, heart-shaped leaves. Underneath it, they saw Zuko. His blades had been drawn, but when he saw them he joined them together at the hilt and put them back in the sheath on his back.

Azula put her hand on her hip when she saw him. "What're you doing here, Zuzu? I thought you went shopping."

He took a deep breath, as if bracing himself. "I came here hoping for some training," he said. "I realized I shouldn't limit myself by thinking the techniques I've learned for fighting are the best out there. Father arranged for me to learn how to use these swords before he went off to war, but Uncle would encourage me to expand my horizons and not be so stubborn."

Aang stared at Zuko, pondering his words. The Zuko he knew was always the type to try different fighting styles, open to using and mastering his broadswords even with knowledge of firebending under his belt. But it took a lot longer for both him and Sokka to swallow their pride and admit to their stubbornness, especially when Aang first met them. Even the Zuko Aang knew admitted to having an explosive temper, especially back before he joined Team Avatar, but so far Aang saw much less of it in this Zuko.

He tried his best to ignore the mention of Zuko's father.

Mai perhaps subconsciously mirrored Azula's movement in putting her hand on her hip. "We don't teach outsiders," she said, as blunt as ever.

"Even when your numbers are dwindling?" he responded, crossing his arms. "I'm sure back in the day some of the knowledge got out, being a worldwide organization and all."

Mai raised an eyebrow. "Spying on us, were you?"

"Did you notice me?"

"I might've had my guard down." Mai walked up to the building, and then spoke to them with her back turned. "This place was where Avatar Roku's temple once was. It is a sign of our respect for him to put our dojo here," she explained. That was why the surrounding area looked sort of familiar, Aang thought, even as forested as it was. She opened the sliding door, revealing an expansive room with mats on the floors and a row of wooden dummies standing by the far wall. A few of the Roku Warriors practiced hurling knives at the dummies, hitting them with deadly accuracy. A few windows let sunlight and a sea breeze into the room. Mai stopped in the center of the training mat and turned to face Zuko, a piece of metal in her hands glinting in the sun.

"I think our Zuzu impressed her," said Azula. "Somehow."

"Alright, Zuko," said Mai, holding a trio of needles between her fingers. "You caught my attention."

He pulled out his own swords again, holding them defensively - an acceptance of her challenge. "Uh, well, I didn't mean I was looking for attention when I asked if you noticed me. I was referring to the whole 'sneaking around' thing..."

"I know what you meant," Mai said, cutting him off. She stood perfectly still. "Let's see what you've got."

He stood there somewhat awkwardly, waiting for her to attack. Everyone waited. Zuko slowly started to inch around her in a circle, keeping his swords up. Aang saw his fists clenched tight and didn't envy him - Aang knew from experience how good Mai's aim could be.

"This is a waste of time," Azula muttered, as the seconds stretched on to over a minute. "They're not even doing anything. Mai could have ended this already."

Aang found himself more and more impressed by the Zuko that resembled his close friend more than the banished prince that was his enemy. Watching Zuko now, it made Aang realize how different this Zuko's upbringing must have been, and how much of an effect it seemed to have on him to be free of his evil father and sister. He knew already that they were different in this world - he just never thought about how much, or why, until now.

And then Zuko's unexpected store of patience ran out and he launched at Mai with a bellow and swing of his swords. Maybe they did have some similarities, after all.

She leapt into action, hurling her needles at him. Zuko blocked two of them with his left sword, but the other went through his pant leg with enough force to throw off his balance. His arms flailed as he wrenched his foot free of the floor, broadswords swinging wide. He growled in anger and frustration as she weaved through his attacks, but he backed up toward the wall to keep her from getting behind him. The movement had him on the defensive as he focused all of his attention on where she aimed her knives and needles, but the fight was over soon after it started when he neared too close to the wall and Mai bent backward to aim a dart at him from her ankle holster. It pinned his pant leg to the wall while a throwing star followed it up by pinning his sleeve.

Zuko glowered and his swords clanged to the floor in defeat. Aang expected Azula to taunt him, but for once she said nothing as he pulled himself free of the wall.

"You don't really have much in the way of natural talent," Mai said, blunt as ever. "But you're focused, and you learn quick."

"I saw the patterns in your attacks," Zuko said, his fists unclenching as he moved to sit on his knees in supplication, head bent. "I guess you did that on purpose, huh?"

"You're not planning to stay here long, are you?" she asked. "At the very least, it wouldn't be boring if you stuck around... at least for a little while."

"We can't," Zuko said. He gestured to Aang and Azula. "We're on a journey for them to master firebending. The plan is to leave tomorrow."

Mai let out a sigh and held out a hand to help him up. "Well, it'd be a shame if you didn't pick up some skills on the way, too. It's only fair, I guess."

Aang himself barely saw the quirk of Mai's lips, but when Zuko saw it he smiled in return.


"It seems very suspicious to me," Kanna said to her grandson. "It is almost as if he wants to be found."

"Either that or he must be bad at covering his trail," Sokka said, scratching his chin. The two of them, along with Sokka's second-in-command Kinto, a hot-headed waterbender, studied a map of the Fire Nation Outer Islands. "He's got to be at the outermost island."

"I would not go there," Kanna advised, tracing the Avatar's trail on the map with her finger. "It might be a trap, or a ploy to mislead you." The boy kept dipping low below the clouds, giving them and plenty of other witnesses the chance to see him. From there, they easily predicted his destination. "What would he gain from going to Crescent Island?"

"He's probably fleeing to the Earth Kingdom for protection or something," Sokka surmised. He tried to piece together everything he knew of Crescent Island. It was shaped like a moon, so other more superstitious men might have considered it good fortune to find the Avatar there. He flipped his whalebone knife in one hand, thinking. "We can't let him go. We have to capture him before then." If they lost the Avatar to the Earth Kingdom, there'd be no telling how long it would take to track him down again. The further he went inland, the further he was from the Water Nation.

"Prince Sokka, he might have supporters at that island waiting to attack—"

Sokka couldn't keep the edge from his voice. "I've thought it through," he said, cutting across the old woman. "This is my ship, and before the Avatar escapes to the Earth Kingdom I'm going to take advantage of our superiority over the sea and catch him. So I'll stick to what I know and you should stick to what you know."

His grandmother regarded him with tired eyes, but otherwise seemed unfazed by the harshness in his words. "And what would that be, my prince?"

He turned away from her. He didn't want to look at those eyes, not now. "Look through our histories for any records on Crescent Island. I know I've come across it in my research about the Avatar, but I can't remember what's significant about it. It'll give us a hint of what to expect there." His voice softened, just a little bit. "It's an important task. Not some... not some womanly one, okay?"

"Oh, Prince Sokka," said Kanna, and from the tone of her voice he knew she took no offense from his earlier words. "What on earth is a 'womanly task,' dear?"


Zuko waited patiently in the underbrush of the island's dense woods, his golden eyes scanning the area. Mai wasted no time in beginning his training, but it mostly consisted of staying hidden among the swaying needles of evergreens and behind the trunks of unnervingly straight teaks. She wanted him to observe unseen, to report on the clothing and appearances of passerby. It was an exercise in stealth, patience, and memory. Three things that he wouldn't have placed among his best skills, but that was why he was here to learn.

He kept his steps light and avoided the crunch of pine needles or leaves under his feet. She told him to keep his breath measured and his hands steady. He didn't know yet what this had to do with knife or needle throwing, but he trusted that lesson would come soon enough. If anything, the exercise reminded him of his time hunting back on his own island - the countless hours spent searching for prey and creeping up on his quarry before they noticed him. Over the past couple of years, he spent most of that time with Azula. But before that, he learned all of his hunting techniques from his cousin, Lu Ten.

Lu Ten was like the big brother he never had, a warrior who took to swordfighting like a prodigy, grasping it far better than Zuko ever did. They sometimes trained together, but Zuko tried to differentiate himself from Lu Ten by taking up broadswords - like his father Ozai - rather than the straight sword Lu Ten and most of the others wielded. But Lu Ten never looked down on him, never doubted him. When Ozai left with all the able-bodied men and women to help on the war front, Lu Ten had gone with him. And it was Lu Ten - not Ozai - who had parting words for Zuko and Azula, who encouraged them to look after Uncle Iroh and the rest of the village in his stead.

Zuko didn't know why his mind wandered to his cousin, but he shook his head and forced himself to focus. He spent hours at his task. During that time, he did get discovered by three people, but they simply bowed their heads and hurried their pace, or else looked vaguely annoyed when they realized he wasn't one of their warriors or the Avatar. But when he had enough information to hopefully satisfy Mai (though he suspected that was exceedingly difficult on the best of days) he made his way back to the dojo.

He found her in the dojo alone, administering maintenance to her wrist and ankle holsters. Seeing them spread out like that on the table, their straps undone, he wondered how she kept it under all her clothes. But he shook that thought from his mind before he could follow it to its end. "I saw fourteen people," he said. "Most on their way to the ancestor shrines, but some were talking about going to see your father."

"Describe them," she said with a bored yawn, gently coating one of the holsters in a transparent oil with a long, thin brush. He assumed it was to keep the mechanism running smoothly. "I know everyone in this village really well. Unfortunately. So I'll know if you make something up."

"There was a woman in clothes like yours, but red and gold, with a yellow hibiscus blossom in her hair. Broad nose, brown eyes. She was one of three who saw me."

"Go on."

"A couple, bit older. They wore undyed fabrics and straw hats, dressed like farmers. One had some grey in his hair and favored his right leg." Zuko screwed his eyes shut, trying to picture his partner. "The other had a long nose, sort of balding, with a really tall topknot."

"Sort of like he's trying to make up for losing hair, right?" Mai asked, a dry chuckle sneaking into her words. Her movements with the oil brush were languid, almost hypnotizing.

Zuko laughed with her. "Yeah, exactly. I saw another pair - I think they were both Roku Warriors based on the way they carried themselves, but out of uniform. The guy was tall and skinny with messy hair. The girl was shorter and looked strong and talked a lot. I think she fights with her fists, they looked a little red and scuffed. But they carried a bunch of spider lilies. They were the only other ones who saw me."

Mai nodded. "That'll be Lu Mao and Xiao. Sounds like they're slacking off."

And on he went. They spent the rest of the day covering other aspects of life as a Roku Warrior; after his first exercise, he helped her in the upkeep of her equipment, learned the best uses for a knife, needle, dart, throwing star, tripwire, bola, and regular dagger. But instead of wielding them and practicing his aim they instead practiced the protocol for meeting someone of higher rank, whether they were a governor or civic minister or even royalty. He asked her the importance of this - he already knew how to bow and address people - but she insisted he needed to learn the basics again. Being a Roku Warrior sometimes meant infiltrating high society, and if he did anything to indicate he was a fake it could put a whole mission in jeopardy. He had to learn floral and tea ceremonies in case he ever found himself playing the role of a servant, and for the first time that day he felt comfortable in his task because living with Uncle Iroh gave him all sorts of advantages when it came to anything tea-related.

Even so, the day had been filled with nothing but frustrations. His anger came out in bursts - other than the tea, none of it came easy to him but he kept trying regardless.

That night, just before they ended for the day with plans to meet again in the morning, Zuko found himself more exhausted than he ever did after a full day of swordfighting. But just as he bid Mai good night and left the dojo, she tossed him a leather belt with a pouch, heavy with its contents.

"What's this?" he asked, brushing his thumb over the clasp.

"Your first weapons as a Roku Warrior," she replied. "Normally it takes longer to get them, but you're not terrible and you're leaving tomorrow afternoon, anyway."

Inside, he found wrapped knives and needles. It was far from the full repertoire of a Roku Warrior, but it was a start. He'd thought he only disappointed her throughout the day, judging by her lack of reactions, so he found himself staring at the weapon pouch in surprise. He just hoped it would help him on his journey, wherever it decided to take him. He looked back up at Mai and couldn't help but smile, even as she walked past him out of the dojo. "Thank you, Mai."


Aang sat near the top of the dormant volcano, his storm grey eyes scanning the horizon. His clothing billowed in the wind as he sat on his perch, bracing himself with his staff while he was deep in thought. He kept envisioning Sokka attacking him, and then Aang himself hurting him while in the Avatar State. It tortured him inside, but he had to try to do something. He had to help his friend.

As Aang expected, a ship appeared far away to the west, sailing toward Crescent Island. Aang waited as it neared, identifying first its blue sails. Unlike most other Water Navy ships, it didn't gleam with the reflective sheen of ice that made it seem made of silver at a distance. The wood on this one was badly battered - a ship he'd already seen and known. When it came close enough for him to recognize it as Sokka's, Aang finally jumped down from his perch and made his way back to the village to warn them.

It was stupid. Aang knew it. But he wanted to see Sokka again. Wanted a chance to talk to him. He couldn't stand the idea of Sokka as his enemy, a Sokka who had been scarred and left with one eye. He should have just taken Zuko and Azula and flown away but he wanted to face him even if it meant endangering the village below. He pushed the guilt aside as he descended on his glider, hoping his actions were the right ones.


With only five men flanking him, Sokka approached the village atop his buffalo-yak at a slow, steady pace. He didn't want to seem like an invader - he hoped to give the people a chance to surrender the Avatar to him without a fight. He disliked unnecessary violence, so he hoped if he and his men proved imposing enough it would work.

The forest village felt unnaturally silent as they proceeded up the trail. His eye scanned over all of the buildings that they passed - and under them, too, since many stood on stilts to account for the mountain slopes. Despite the shore being far behind him already, he was far from defenseless with his waterskins and most of the men were capable of plantbending anyway. Not to mention he had his trusty weapons that he always kept with him.

He leaned over the side of his buffalo-yak to pick a hibiscus flower from a bush that he passed. "Anyone here?" he called out. "I'm just looking for someone. If anyone wants to come out, we can have a little talk and I'll leave in peace once you hand him over."

One of the men behind Sokka let out a yelp of pain and fell off his buffalo-yak, a knife in his arm. Sokka scowled and took out his war horn. Well, he tried - if they wanted a fight, he'd give them one.

The war horn resounded through the forest, signaling to Kinto and the other men who infiltrated from off the path to begin their attack. A hooded girl emerged from the branches above and hurled a barrage of darts at Sokka, but he unsheathed his club and smacked them out of the air. The hibiscus petals froze in his hands, sharpening its ends to a point, and he threw it in her direction. He didn't look long enough to see if his attack hit, turning his head to maximize his range of vision so he could spot any other surprise attacks.

Other sounds of battle erupted elsewhere in the village as men shouted and water splashed. A pair of waterbenders ripped all of the leaves from a tree, exposing the warriors who hid in its boughs and opening them up to attack. Pliant branches, like those from a willow but covered in evergreen needles, entangled their enemies when they tried to escape, their own defenses turned against them.

Something bludgeoned the back of Sokka's head, but it took him a moment to realize it wasn't a solid object but a burst of air. He grimaced and turned to face the foe he came for.


Zuko took cover behind one of the buildings, preparing to rush out into the fray. He gripped his swords tightly. He had already used some of his darts—some of which hit their marks—but he was still far from being as skilled as the Roku Warriors. Mai fought alongside him, ready to support him from a safe range as he did his best on the ground against the invaders.

After he caught his breath, Zuko stood up again. He clenched his swords in his hands, his chest hot as he watched what these waterbenders were doing to Mai's village. They barely had time to recover from their last attack, and now they had to withstand another assault. He felt the anger flood him as it did the day his own village had been attacked, back when his mother...

"Wait," Mai said. She placed a hand on his shoulder, surprisingly delicate.

"We have to go! We have to protect your village!" he protested. "What're you waiting for?"

She pulled him back down into a crouch. "No, this village is my responsibility. Yours is to the Avatar - it's a mission I can no longer carry out like we were formed to do." He tried to get back up but she held him firm. "So you're the one who has to carry on that duty in our stead. The duty of a Roku Warrior."

"We can't let them destroy your village," Zuko said to her, almost pleading.

"They'll follow you when you leave," she said. "Obviously. That one guy even said they were just looking for Aang. So stop trying to be heroic."

"I'm not! We led them here, we'll get rid of them!"

The corners of her mouth perked up as their amber eyes met and she touched her lips to his. "Thank you," she said. When his eyes went wide with shock, she pressed a hand to his cheek even as the battle raged beyond them. "For fighting to protect my village. You've got so much anger in you, just waiting to get out. I think you can use that to your advantage... and maybe I can learn a thing or two from you as well. You just have to temper it, concentrate it to the edge of each needle and dagger."

He stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say. He never expected her to kiss him, much less admit to wanting to learn from him. "Mai, I..."

"Just go! Azula went to go get your bison. Go find them. I'll see you again," she said, gathering darts in her hands. She looked at him one last time and rushed off into battle, disappearing like a shadow in the leaves.


A barrier of wind spun Sokka's signature boomerang off course. Aang was too focused on the battle to notice the similarity between the two Sokkas' weapons. The fight turned into a close-range one when Sokka jumped at him with his machete and club, swinging with clear intent to maim. This Sokka fought more ruthlessly than the one Aang knew. But maybe that had to do with the fact that Aang was never on the receiving end of his onslaught before.

"You don't have to do this!" Aang yelled to him, keeping as much distance between them as possible. But even that didn't guarantee Aang's safety with the addition of this Sokka's waterbending. "You're a good person, I know it!"

"You don't know anything about me!" Sokka shouted back with a swing of his club. The movement was accompanied by a bludgeoning blast from his waterskin, and he sheathed his machete to free up his other hand with grasping motions. The water coiled around Aang's staff and ripped it from his hands, hurling the wood down the mountain trail. Unarmed, and with a major component of his airbending lost, Aang stood helplessly, giving Sokka a pleading look. He refused to fight him any longer. He knew this wasn't the Sokka he knew, but he couldn't bring himself to attack - it hurt too much.

Before things could proceed further, the two of them heard a loud growl, and a burst of air from Appa's tail sent Sokka sprawling and tumbling away. Aang didn't move.

"Aang, we have to go!" Azula shouted down to him from Appa's reins. "They'll follow us if we leave!"

"Move!" Zuko yelled. Their shouts shook Aang out of his trance, and he hurriedly grabbed his staff. He looked at Sokka one last time, who looked back at him with a defeated look in his eye. Something lingered in the air, an unspoken tension between them, and to Aang it felt like a chain holding him in place. Even Appa had no hesitation attacking Sokka in Aang's stead and the thought made him feel even more alone. Sokka grit his teeth and grimaced in pain as he lifted himself up off the ground and it was like the spell had been broken.

Aang jumped up onto Appa's back as he gained height and flew over the village. He looked over the destruction left in their wake, reminded horribly of a similar situation when his carelessness put so many people at risk. He was overwhelmed with guilt, but he hoped Sokka would follow him, as Zuko did last time on Kyoshi Island. Sabi perched on his shoulder as if offering him comfort, nuzzling into his neck.

Aang knew Sokka was not going to stop pursuing him. And he was not going to give up, either.


As the fight dragged on, Sokka knew his own men were outnumbered - but not outmatched - by the shadows flitting through the trees, taking down their assailants one by one. Sokka's waterbenders ripped all the moisture from as many trees as they could. Wood groaned and snapped as the waterbenders advanced on their foes, tearing away their defenses and their hiding places. Sokka wanted these people to regret helping the Avatar, he wanted to be angry, he wanted to lash out at them all.

But he'd failed again. And with each failure it took the Avatar further and further from Sokka's reach. Someone would catch him first, whether it was Bato or someone else. And Sokka's life would be remembered as nothing but a series of screw-ups. 'The Screw-Up Prince,' they would call him.

Most of all, he found himself repeating the Avatar's words in his head. You're a good person. Of course Sokka knew that. He might've failed as a prince and as a son, but he wasn't a bad person. He was a good warrior and a great strategist, most of the time. He even kept his skills well-rounded and prided himself on using his brains more than his brawn. But who did the Avatar think he was to make presumptions like that about someone he didn't know?

"Sokka."

His grandmother found him as he advanced up the mountain with his warriors. He looked to her, his eye narrowed. "What're you doing here, Gran? I told you to stay with the ship. It's too dangerous for you here."

She frowned. "I can handle myself," she said. "But what are you doing? The Avatar has already departed. Call back your men - there is no need to continue the attack on these people."

He pulled her onto the back of his buffalo-yak. "They've got to pay for helping the Avatar. They're the enemy, too."

"Every second you delay, the Avatar gets further ahead of us. We don't want his trail to run cold."

He didn't follow his men as they continued their advance. Instead, his buffalo-yak stopped along the trail and his gaze fell to his hands clutching the reins. "I'm out of ideas," he admitted. "I don't know where the Avatar's headed next. I don't know how to catch him."

"You need to get out of your own head," said Kanna, knocking against his wolf helm. "Come. Let us go back to the ship - after all that walking up here I need to give my feet a nice, long soak in a salt bath. And then maybe I'll get someone to rub them while we plan our next move. Together."

Sokka rolled his eye, but signaled to Kinto to recall the men. "Ew, Gran. Just... ew."


Author's Notes: One thing I'd forgotten about this chapter was the introduction of Kinto, Sokka's lieutenant. He's actually not an OC - if I remember correctly, he appears in the Avatar trading card game, though I don't think the characters introduced there are considered canon.

Wow, this chapter is a lot longer than it used to be. For the old readers, I hope you like the changes. For the new ones... please review!