A new chapter? In my inbox today? It's more likely than you think!

Hey everyone, sorry for such the LONG time away. Summer has been hectic between grad school, work, and a trip to Peru! I really wanted to get this chapter out before I leave for a long weekend, so I will answer reviews later as well as thank you all at the beginning chapter of the next time for being such awesome people! I just figured you all would rather have the chapter than wait for it :)

But who we all really need to thank is my beta hepchaton! I sent her this new chapter and she sent it back in record time. So, if you're pleased you're reading this, know that it's hepchaton for being just such an awesome human!

Enjoy!

Aang scratched Momo's ear as they wandered around the palace.

"-And you see here, buddy, this is a picture of Avatar Roku. The only one that I think is left of him, anyway. He kind of…" Aang sighed. "Well, Fire Lord Azulon and he had a falling out."

A falling out? Roku's voice was scathing, furious. You call leaving me to my death a falling out? That pompous little-

"Right, he's talking a lot right now," Aang whispered under his breath to his new familiar, in reference to Roku's ranting. "But...shhh...that's me...before." He knew that Mono didn't have the ability to hear inside Aang's very crowded head, but Momo also didn't have the vocal cords to talk like a human, so Aang wasn't concerned about sharing his little secret. Even if Momo wasn't hearing what Aang was hearing, Aang could give a play-by-play. It felt good to unload his constant stream of consciousness onto someone else. He'd feel bad if he sought out Ty Lee all the time. Even Aang felt as though he could use a break from this. Since that did not seem like it would be happening soon, Momo as a confidant was the best new choice.

Aang stretched his arm out, and Momo scurried to the edge of his outstretched hand, his little black nose inches from the canvas. It was an old picture, hidden in the depths of the palace, in a place where not many would see it.

"I think Ursa insisted on keeping it," Aang said, smiling softly. Ursa had always made him feel so welcome. The truth was, at this point, Aang no longer recalled his mother's face. He wasn't even sure if the name he had was her real name. He recalled the name 'Liyah', but that didn't mean it was actually hers. It could have been the name of any female Air Nomad who showed him kindness. Sure, he'd left her when he was hardly weaned, but he still thought that maybe she would have came to him in dreams. Maybe it had, 100 years ago.

By this point, he couldn't recall. Whenever he tried to think of his mother, Ursa's face would morph onto the body of an Air Nomad woman instead.

She may be quiet and reserved, but Aang knew that she would protect him as fiercely as though he were her own fire-cub, just as she did for Azula and Zuko. He couldn't imagine her renouncing him if the truth ever came out. Maybe, because he was connected to her grandfather in a way, she'd enjoy it even more.

Momo placed a tiny paw to faded paint, before turning to Aang. Aang had only had this little guy for about two days, but already he was starting to feel slightly unnerved by him at some times. Not that he didn't adore this animal to bits, but there were times he was absolutely sure that Momo...was looking at him. Really looking at him, as though he understood everything.

But he was just a lemur, right?

…Right?

"And, that's basically my family, I guess. Like you, I uh...don't have much. Or not my people anymore," Aang said. "We're similar in that way, huh?"

Momo made a chirping sound, something that Aang interpreted as sympathy. Momo rubbed his head on Aang's shoulder.

"Anyway," Aang said, trying to brighten. "You must be hungry, little guy. It's been hours since breakfast. We'll go into the kitchens. I'm sure they have some fantastic fruit already cut. Sometimes, being a Fire Nation Royal Cousin has its perks," Aang said, winking.

Momo crawled onto Aang's head, which seemed to be his place of choice. Aang liked to think it was because Momo enjoyed watching everything and needed a good vantage point. It was also the easiest leaping place, though Momo had clung close to Aang since arriving back at the palace, which was for the best, truly. Aang was more than a little protective over him.

As far as he knew, Momo was the last flying lemur around. He was tempted to add on, like himself, but then recalled he wasn't the last airbender out there. He was the last one that hailed directly from an Air Temple, but that was just semantics. An airbender was an airbender.

Nature always has a way of balancing itself, Yangchen reminded him gently, Whenever there is an absence, something else will spring up. It may not be the same, but the spirit of it is. The Avatar cycle should have taught you that.

Her tone was not scolding, but a reminder. While each Avatar was, physically, a different person, they all had the same literal spirit within them. It made even Aang's head hurt if he thought about it too much!

Aang thought about this as he walked through the halls, watching Momo's tail swish in front of his face. He had never thought there'd be more airbenders, unless he created them himself. Maybe there would never be this exact lemur again, but who knows where a similar flying marsupial would return? The world was always changing. Always in motion, never stagnant.

Aang waved to the chefs in the kitchen, who smiled jovially at him and waved back in between flipping noodles and chopping meat.

"There he is! The little creature that the whole palace is talking about," the lead chef said, reaching out to scratch Momo's chin.

"The whole palace?" Aang wasn't sure if he liked that.

"Well," The chef rested the fist holding his oversized knife on his waist, "Besides Lady Ursa's turtle ducks, the last actual Royal Pet we had was...oh, was it the racoon-collie? Back when the Royal Children were six and eight?" He scratched his chin.

"No, no," a line-worker piped up, "Remember? Princess Azula had the mouse-canary when she was twelve!"

"That one, yes." The chef furrowed his eyebrows. "I can't believe I forgot about that adorable little thing."

"Well, it didn't stick around very long. Or should I say last very long," a different line-chef snorted, "Because-"

Whatever he'd been about to say was cut off quickly, like something had choked in his throat. Aang was almost sure that he could feel the air being sucked out of the kitchen, like some evil spirit had crept through the walls.

"He was a sickly thing, tragic," Azula's calm voice seemed to cut through the area, despite the hissing of the food, the noises from the pots, and the squealing of the kettle. When she spoke, it seemed even inanimate objects quieted.

The head chef made a face that showed he didn't think that was quite it, but changed expressions before Azula saw. Aang wanted to stuff Momo in his shirt, away and safe from Azula.

"Well, we don't pay you to just stand there," Azula said through a narrowed glare. The kitchen burst back into work, double-time, to show the crown Princess that they deserved their jobs. The workers were still silent, sans the necessary noises from their preparing.

Aang grabbed a bowl with an assortment of fruits, hoping to make a quick exit. Unfortunately, Azula had no such plans to allow him to do so.

"Come, Kuzon? Aren't you going to introduce me?" she asked, blinking at him.

Aang weighed his choices quickly and carefully. After a long moment, he outstretched his arm, but Momo refused to budge. In fact, he stayed close to Aang, hissing and chattering at Azula. If an animal could express disgust and hatred, he was pretty sure Momo was doing it.

"Sorry, he's been like that with everyone. I think he has a natural distrust of most people," Aang lied quickly. He had horrible thoughts of Azula killing Momo in the night for the pet's insolence, or something equally as terrible.

In reality, Momo hadn't been like this to all. In fact, when Iroh had bustled into Aang's study to meet the newest member of the Royal Family, Momo had climbed over Uncle Iroh like a tree, poking and prodding every bit of him. At first, Aang had been tripping over himself to apologize, but Iroh had just laughed.

"He's just curious, and it's likewise," he had said, patting Momo's ears. "We find each other quite the fascinating species."

If Momo were giving out seals of approvals, Iroh was one of the recipients. Azula was clearly not.

Many animals can sense goodness in people, Gopan said, And I would trust an animal's instincts over humans. Like crows! Did you know that crows-

No one wants to hear about your blasted birds, Gopan, Kuruk groaned. But I have to agree. We would be wise to take cues from the world around us. It's usually telling us something important.

"Of course." Azula pulled back, trying not to look offended. Still, Aang could tell she was frustrated. "Well, I'm sure in time it will come around."

"Yes, absolutely," Aang said, another lie. He never lied as much as when he was around Azula.

Azula hesitated. No, she lingered. Aang looked her up and down; she had a letter in her hand. His own curiosity won him over, plus the fact he was almost sure Azula wanted him to ask.

"What's that?"

"Oh, this?" Azula raised the letter like she'd somehow forgotten it was there. "I was just picking this up from the Royal Post. It's from Chan."

"From Ember Island?" Aang wracked his brain.

Azula brushed a piece of her bangs from her forehead with two fingers. "Yes. He's absolutely besotted with me." To someone who hadn't spent a great deal of time getting to know Azula - and most didn't - they may have interpreted her expression as disinterest. However, Aang knew that if Azula was even making a point to not burn his letter immediately, there was a genuine interest on her part.

Plus, he'd also overhead that moment under the porch.

Aang nodded, offering a true smile.

Aang hoped for goodness for and from everyone. He hoped that Chan made Azula happy, made her feel completed. He hoped that she got the opportunity to enjoy falling in love with someone that truly liked her, and he had to admit Chan did.

Azula - much like Zuko - had grown up far too fast, the weight of a whole world on their shoulders. In this, Aang felt a kinship. He didn't think that there was much else he shared with Azula, but on this, he understood. He knew how it felt to be expected to be an adult when you hardly knew how to be a kid.

To be honest, this was something he shared with everyone in his put-together little group. Katara and Sokka had been fighting a war against the Fire Nation since they'd been born to protect their own people. Toph had had to advocate for herself and her blindness without her parents. Ty Lee left her own family to find her own path. Aiga had to step up to provide for her family by working at the Palace. And Shoji did something similar, but by starting at the fighting pits…

That was perhaps why they were so closely-knit. They all knew what it meant to have stress and responsibility much bigger than any one person. Aang considered, briefly, that in another world, one where something had gone differently, Azula might have been a fantastic addition to their band of misfits. But Aang wasn't sure if there was anything in the world that could have changed Azula's personality. Maybe if everything had been different, everything would have still been the same. Some people just...just were.

"He's written twice already. What can I say? I guess I just...enchant people." Azula waved the letter around. Someone in the kitchen line made a sound that he covered up with a cough. Aang internally winced and hoped he wasn't about to lose his job over that. However, Azula didn't seem to notice.

"Are you going to write him back?" Aang was almost sure that Azula wanted someone to talk to. He wondered why she wasn't talking to Mai. Aang knew her friendship with Ty Lee had been flagging, but there was still the surly sharp-thrower left, wasn't there?

"I haven't decided," Azula said, and Aang knew she meant that.

What was Azula looking for in someone, other than...oh, what had she said? 'Someone to stand by her?' That surely couldn't just be it. Chan didn't seem like the best guy Aang had ever met, but maybe Azula needed someone a little slower, a little less ambitious. Someone to temper her.

"Kuzon?"

"Hmm?" Aang asked absently, holding out a handful of grapes and orange slices for Momo to choose from.

Azula leaned over the prep table, examining Aang. Her face was soft, just for the quickest flash of a second. Aang didn't shiver, though that was his gut reaction. Then, it was the usual calculating coolness that she was so well known for, the look she got when she was about to kick Lu Ten's butt at Pai Sho or the tilt of her head when she was finding someone's biggest insecurity to knock someone down a peg.

"How closely related are we?"

Aang snapped his fist shut, swallowing once. He stopped himself from jerking back, but couldn't stop the frown that came over his face.

Careful, young one, Kasata hissed in his mind, This has to be a trap.

Yes, Aang knew this, but he wasn't sure how.

"You know this, Azula," Aang said first, trying to buy himself time to figure out where this was coming from.

"Oh," Azula sighed, twirling a strand of her hair around. "Remind me?"

It hit Aang with a burst of clarity: she had to know something. She had to be questioning his fabricated lineage, trying to trip him up, prove he wasn't really who he said he was. This was a test.

This is very important, Katsata said, as though he needed to be reminded.

Aang leaned forward too, placing his hands in front of him on the table, twined.

"Fourth cousin, once removed," Aang replied softly. "We share a set of great-great-great grandparents. Fire Lord Tai."

Azula held his gaze for a second. Aang wasn't wrong. He knew he wasn't wrong. He could recite the whole darn lineage. He knew every weird cousin squirreled away, every illegitimate bastard, every strange ancestor, every stitch in the tapestry.

Azula chuckled. "Yes, that was it. Of course." She looked away.

"Uh-huh," Aang said, still not sure if he was out of the woods with this.

"I suppose calling you 'Fourth Cousin, Once Removed Kuzon' would be a bit of a mouthful, right?" she continued, standing and rolling out her shoulders. "Thank Agni you're in the military now, so we can just call you Guardsman Kuzon, if one is so inclined."

"You can just call me Kuzon," Aang said softly.

Kasata was still rambling on about watching oneself, about traps and pitfalls, and while Aang wasn't ignoring him, but he also wasn't paying attention. Azula was absolutely expressionless as she gave Aang one final look-over.

"Yes," she said simply, "I know."

XXxxXX

At the arrival of the docks to Kyoshi Island, Zuko wasn't sure who sprinted off of the ship quicker; Toph or Suki. Had it been a race, it would have been neck and neck. Toph may have won out by a smidgen, though. Suki's desire to hug her family again was no match for Toph's intense hatred of boats.

Zuko hung back until it was just himself and his crew, allowing the other two ladies, the servants, and guards to disembark first.

There was a sizeable envoy waiting for him at the edge of the island.

Toph had already flung off her slippers, holding them in her fingers but looking like she'd like to chuck them far into the sea. Maiha was standing obediently in line. Anaselma stood next to her, but her eyes were darting all over, as though trying to absorb every inch of the area. Suki had been engulfed in a group hug, but managed to detach herself reluctantly to come by the Prince.

From the gathered people, a withered but stern looking woman approached them.

"Honorable Prince Zuko," she said, bowing. Not all the way down, not as far down as his father would have liked if he were here, but enough to show an acknowledgement.

"Governor Riki," Zuko bowed back. He'd only met the woman once or twice in his lifetime. She disliked leaving the island and often only sent missives with her opinion, something he knew his father usually burned. He laughed at the 'silly Islanders', with their female-chosen leader. Zuko thought it was often irresponsible of Ozai to discount her; Riki was an imposing figure, no matter her gender.

"If you are not too weary from your travels, I figure we may as well get this political fuss out of the way." Riki waved a hand.

Zuko gave a firm shake of his head. "I am quite able to discuss right now. My ladies might want to settle a little...erm, some of them," he said, catching Toph's roll of her eyes.

"Of course. We have set up a very lovely set of rooms for the five of you, and of course your workers. If you please?" She led them through the fields that was the outskirts, into the heart of the village.

The city looked clean, though Zuko was not sure if it was kept to a usual status and shine or they had cleaned it for his arrival. In the middle of the city was the towering statue of Kyoshi. Zuko wished Aang were here; he knew how he would adore this. Kyoshi was one of his favorite past selves.

Zuko also wished Katara was here, but he was trying not to think about that.

He'd originally had her on this trip. He knew that she'd be enchanted by the female warriors and would have taken to the culture with gusto. It was only when Lu Ten examined the list and pointed out that Katara was on many more than the others that Zuko had been forced to cull her trips a bit.

"Your preference is showing, Zu," Lu Ten had said, a long sigh, but yet a hint of a smile.

It was difficult. The truth was, Zuko could easily imagine Katara on his arm arriving to all of these locations. There wasn't a single place on the docket that he thought she'd turn her nose up to or find boring. Even if it wasn't the fanciness of the Palace, Katara would probably still feel fine there, unlike certain girls, who he was unsure couldn't survive without a private bath.

Of course, if Katara just said 'yes', she'd be coming on all these trips as the Fire Lady.

Before Zuko could ruminate more on Katara, a lithe figure broke from the villagers.

"Oh! I'd wanted to meet you down at the docks, I'm so sorry!"

Suki went to hug Andica first. She embraced the younger warrior in her arms, smiling into her head. It made sense that the two had bonded at the Palace, perhaps more than if they'd both remained here.

"Andi!" Maiha cried, pleased as punch to see one of her close friends. It wasn't just Maiha's new interest in non-bending fighting techniques that had prompted Zuko to put her on this list. Zuko took pride in the idea that he knew the girls fairly well.

A couple of the villagers were motioning for the rest of the group to follow them. Andica was talking a mile a minute to Maiha about everything that had happened since she returned home, and Maiha was clambering over her to do the same. Just before she turned to leave, she looked at Zuko.

"Awe, come here," Zuko broke down, opening his arms.

Andica came to his embrace easily, hugging him firmly around the center.

"Don't get me wrong, I've missed the palace, but it's also nice to be home," she assured Zuko. Zuko grinned.

"I miss you as well. It's a bit quieter without you there."

"Andica!" An older Kyoshi Warrior sharply called her. She blew a quick kiss to Zuko before bounding off. She may be dressed as a more seasoned Kyoshi now, but Zuko was pleased to see the bounce in her step had not been left behind.

It was just Governor Riki and Zuko at the doors to the Village Hall now. Riki was giving Zuko an absolutely judgmental look, one Zuko saw on Azula often.

"You claim to have missed her, yet you sent her home?"

Riki had offered two of her girls for the competition. She was as interested in the outcome as anyone.

Zuko watched the young girl go.

"I did. We were simply not compatible, but I do care for her." He thought adding 'as only a sister' wouldn't have helped him, so he kept it out. He truly did want to see Andica thrive, grow up. He had considered that even with maturity, she wouldn't have been the girl for him. He was sure that one day she'd find someone wonderful, but they both knew by the end that it wasn't him.

Riki led him into the conference hall. A server near the door offered him tea as he approached. Zuko nodded his acceptance, waiting to see where Riki would sit before choosing the seat across from her.

He took out his little scroll, which tallied the exact imports and exports from Kyoshi Island. They hadn't been able to meet the standards of grain that they'd set forth; however, it seemed like fish was plentiful. He wondered idly if Riki intended to negotiate some sort of agreement concerning this? While the Fire Nation had their own fish in the sea, there was a particular one that only swam near this area, so Zuko was positive he could convince his father that it was a worthy trade.

"So, your corn…" Zuko began, but broke off uncertaintly when Riki began to laugh in the corner. He looked up; first of all surprised that anyone would be laughing at the dauphin, but secondly just straight-up confused.

"Forgive me, my prince, but I...you imagined I wanted to talk about crops?" she said, fixing Zuko with a look that made him feel like he was in front of the Royal Tutor and he'd given a horribly erroneous answer.

"What do you want to speak of, then?" Zuko recovered easily enough, setting down the scroll.

"Why, the most important export thus so far," Riki said like it was clear. After a beat, a withered smile. "Suki, my boy."

"Suki, as in, the contestant?"

"Would you not say she is an export?" Riki questioned quietly.

"I would say she's a person," Zuko snapped, furious at her nonchalance toward admitting to utilizing Suki. He was half-convinced, in that moment, to find a way for Suki to remain at the palace so that she would not have to return to a land where it thought so little of her!

Riki hummed. "My, yes, I had forgotten how emotional you Royals were. You may think it heartless of me, I think of it as pragmatics," Riki said. "And before you burn down this very hall we sit in, let me riddle you this. Why would I send a girl who, admittedly, didn't have much going for her, except for her looks - but I see now that did not work. Why would we send one of our most formidable girls to this circus your father calls an Illustrious Competition if we did not expect something in return? So she could have a 'good time'?" Riki scoffed. "You must not be as intelligent as they claim if you think anyone sent a girl out of the goodness of their heart. Everyone wants something."

"What do you want, then?" Zuko asked bluntly.

"For Suki to win, of course. Shall we discuss how to best make that happen?" Riki said. Zuko felt uncomfortable shift in his stomach. He hated talking about Suki, or any of the girls, like they were tagged cattle. Suki was so much more: strong, intelligent, kind.

"That is a choice for me to make myself. But rest assured, Suki is in no danger of being cut anytime soon," he said. He was walking an impossible line here. On one hand, he didn't want to give Riki any information. But on the other, he did not want to dishonor Suki by pretending as though she wasn't as high up in his thoughts as she truly was.

"And yet, once again, you have not picked a wife. Curious," Riki said slowly. "Is there anything she could do to perhaps make the choice a bit more clear?"

"Suki would never-"

"Suki would do what it took to win. That's why she was chosen," Riki said, waving a tired hand. It put a doubt in Zuko's stomach. For every moment that he felt a true connection with Suki, had she just been playing him? Reading him and doing exactly what she thought he wanted? Wouldn't Katara have warned him of that? If Riki thought she was doing the girl a service, how wrong she honestly was.

"I can see I've darkened your mind," Riki said at once, her face frowning with a hint of true emotion. "That had not been my intention. I am asked to guide my people, and sometimes that has made me hardened. Suki does care for you, make no mistake there. While she is a warrior with a cause, she is also a girl with a heart and while you may be a bit... softer," Riki said after a moment of deliberation over the word, "of a man than I imagined her to marry, I also would not have been opposed."

"She keeps you well-informed of her plot, then?" Zuko couldn't help but spit out, feeling angry and tricked.

"Has she never told you? I'm her godmother, and her sole guardian now that her parents are dead."

Zuko inhaled, but he couldn't suck in air enough. Suki was an orphan? Riki was her godmother? In all of the times they'd talked, it had never come up, not once. And she'd spoken about her parents - but now that he thought about it, there had always been a hint of wistfulness tinging the edges of her voice, a longing and a soft remembrance. True, she'd never said it out loud, but she'd said it in her own way. And, the information was most assuredly on the info packets of the girls, but apparently Zuko had never taken the time to commit such a thing to his memory. Had he always just been too busy with Katara to notice Suki, a quiet girl alone in the world, probably mourning deeply at times, and he'd never even thought to ask?

"It was unexpected to be asked to godparent her, at first, but she has been a true light in my life," Riki said, a smile glowing momentarily on her face. "And my husband adored her, bless his late soul. Suki was named after him. His name was Suko."

"Was it?" Zuko managed to choke out, still reeling.

"Extraordinary how close your names were, is it not? Just one changed letter." Riki's fingernails tapped on the table top. "And how melodic your name and Suki's name sounds when they are said together."

"Governor Riki-" Zuko began, trying to hold back a groan.

"Do you believe in fate, Prince Zuko?"

Zuko was once again thrown off. If meeting with dignitaries was usually a calm boat ride, as he had perfected the careful art of it, meeting with Governor Riki was like trying to guide a dingy in a raging, unforgiving storm.

"Do I believe in…" Zuko gave a quiet laugh. It was such a change of pace, difference of topic. "I don't believe so, not quite," he said. If fate were truly kind, his father would be kinder. The airbenders would not have suffered such a horrendous end. The world wouldn't need to be balanced, fate would have done so. "I mean, I believe in spirits and their strange connection to the world. What I don't prescribe to is some red string connecting individuals or a path pre-laid out for us. I like to imagine that I choose my own path as I walk it, that I'm not just ordained to go somewhere from the beginning," he explained hastily, now that he was asked, unable to stop talking.

"Well, I most certainly do," Riki said.

"And you believe it fate for me and Suki to marry?" Zuko raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Because two names happened to share two letters, when both names are not uncommon to begin with? If that's true, I should be having a Prince's Choice only with girls whose fathers have a grouping of similarity to my name. I assure you, I would have more girls than I would know what to do with."

"Maybe I'm an old romantic," Riki informed him. Zuko stifled a snort. Yeah. He doubted that.

"Governor, you said that Suki was at the Choice specifically. Would you be at liberty to share why?" he asked, inserting as much sarcasm as he could entirely manage.

"There is a need."

"And what...what precipitates this bad of a need?"

Riki got up. She walked along the collection of pictures on the walls, intricate and brilliantly-colored ink drawings showing Avatar Kyoshi. Zuko knew the stories of her, through Aang. Aang adored his Earth Kingdom past-self, and in the early days had chatted nonstop about her. Kyoshi was nowhere to be found in the Fire Nation curriculum, but that didn't surprise Zuko.

"We have nearly always been a sovereign island, even slipped from under the thumb of the Earth King. One does not create an entire island if they wish to follow the rules of others," Riki said with a darkened scowl. "And we lived that way for hundreds of years. Until your ancestors came," she said, glowering at Zuko as though it had been he who had stormed the banks of the village. Zuko felt himself slipping down his chair. He knew enough from the history books that the conquering of other cities was never as simple as just coming in and winning. There was always bloodshed, looting, pillaging and other extremely disgusting things that made his stomach crawl just thinking of it.

"We are good fighters, some of the best," Riki continued, her fingers gingerly touching the glass panel in front of the portraits. "But even we know when we had lost. We were no match for your people, so nearly eighty years ago, we surrendered. Live to fight another day, as it were. I was hardly three years old at that time, so I don't recall it firsthand. My husband was eight, so he recalled little snippets. I do remember how it was directly after, how my family mourned for years. Not for dead friends, but for our freedom taken from us."

Zuko did not dare speak. He imagined that trying to suss out her meaning, to put words in this woman's mouth, may be a bad idea.

"If we could have Suki win, we would be back within our own means again. A true Kyoshi, ruling us, is what we've always wanted. And, she would have signed a decree to release us back to ourselves again as soon as she could manage it."

"You have to know that plan wouldn't have ever worked," Zuko said slowly. "The Fire Lady has unimaginable power, yes, but there's still a checking system. None of the council would have gone for it."

Riki was quiet. Even if she knew this, Zuko saw a person who had thrown out a last-ditch effort when he saw one. Sending Suki and Andica for this very goal had always been a longshot, but it was what they had left.

Zuko moved up to the pictures on the wall too, but not toward the portraits. He instead moved to a detailed map of the island, complete with the rolling hills and hidden passageways. He looked at how far it was from the mainland, ghosting his finger across all the space unused, all the way to the tiny gathering of houses and huts that made up the singular town.

This was apart from many other places, as well as situated right on the edges of the Earth Kingdom. It was a spot not easily seen from boats, once you turned around a corner. In short, it was ideal.

Aang romanticized the work they were doing and Zuko would enjoy if it could be kept that way. Let Aang remain bright-eyed and warm-hearted. The world would surely be a sadder place if he was not. Zuko was entirely prepared to carry the darkness upon his shoulders, take on the things about this upcoming war - the one that he could feel brewing under the ground as sure as a storm rolling in from the North - that would leave his blood-brother shaking.

Not everyone would do the right thing because it was the right thing to do. Most people were jaded and desperate. Most people lived in a world where food wasn't handed out for free, you had to trade something for it. This bartering system was how most people saw their universe so why treat anything they come across differently? The effort to hide and save airbenders would be a business transaction.

Aang may blanche and be horrified, but this gave Zuko hope. Not everyone could be swayed by pretty words and the prospect of peace or because they were golden at heart. Everyone, however, could be bought. It was just a matter of finding out what they wanted most in the world and being able to unequivocally provide it.

And Riki had just given Zuko this exactly. She could not have presented it prettier if it were given to him on a silver platter and adorned with moon flowers.

Zuko had no use for conquering the world. His ancestors' desires were not his own. Spirits knew he had a hard-enough time imaging he was just going to be in control of the Fire Nation. Some may claim the deal he was about to make was foolish. To Zuko, it was an asset he was willing to let go.

"My mind is not yet made up on who I will choose," Zuko said evenly, "But I have a different proposition for you. If you swear on your life, on Fate, which you put so much stock in, right now to never divulge anything I'm about to tell you and agree to my terms, we can certainly work something out."

Riki examined him. "I'm not one to agree blindly to anything, sir."

"Some of the most legendary agreements take a," Zuko gave a quiet chuckle, "leap of faith."

Riki sat back down. She clasped her hands in front of her, staring straight ahead. Though she said nothing, Zuko could see that behind her eyes, she was whirling through possibilities.

"What is it you promise to give me?"

"Your freedom back, once my end of the deal has been reached. I'll sign the papers, have you come out, make an unquestionable show of it," Zuko said.

Riki was silent a little bit more. Finally, looking at Zuko with a mixture of respect and wariness, she relented.

"And we are to do…?"

Zuko knew he had her. He let out a breath of relief; the airbenders were one step closer to being safe. He knew there was no one in the world that could give Riki what he was offering, so his agreement was air-tight.

"Have you heard anything about the new airbenders?"

We're back in the game ya'll!

If you live in the USA, have a great Labor Day. I don't want to make promises about when the new chapter will come out, but I'm kicking my muse into actually paying for the space in the room she occupies, ie making her make me write that chapter. We'll see how it goes.

See you all in the next one!