"Where's Professor Zei?"

Matthew faced Sokka with a vacant, despondent expression for just a second too long–and then looked significantly down at the wide circle of disturbed sand that used to have a tower sticking up out of it.

"Wha–" Sokka shook his head. He hoped he was wrong. "But–you got to him in time. I thought he was right behind us!"

Matthew didn't remove his gaze from the ground. He shrugged slightly. "He…wouldn't come. Stayed with the books."

Sokka didn't have a response. Didn't know what to do about the guilt beginning to linger on his chest. Zei was the only one that actually wanted knowledge for knowledge's sake.

Zei was also the only one to die.

Matthew's vocabulary was too limited to offer real comfort. But he silently placed a supporting hand on Sokka's shoulder. Katara bit her lip, glancing uncertainly over at Aang to see how he would take it.

The airbender was…confused. Wasn't even checked into their conversation as his gray eyes found Toph, who was crouched forlornly in the sand with her hand over her ears. Aang's voice held a quaver that had nothing to do with any of them. "Toph…where's Appa?"

"Taken." The earthbender hunched in on herself even further. It privately unnerved Sokka to see her shrinking in on herself like this. "Sandbenders…they dragged him away."

There was a near eternal moment of silence as they all absorbed this news.

"What?!" Katara was the first to cry. "But…Appa's never been…!" Sokka put both hands against his face. Spirits, everything about this trip was going so wrong.

Aang was frozen in place. Didn't even seem like he was breathing.

The Water Tribe siblings shared a nervous glance. Matthew saw their behavior and watched the proceedings very carefully. He didn't seem to completely understand, but he clearly sensed the tension strangling the air around them. Momo crawled out from beneath Toph (and the airbender's darkening stare) to hide in the blond's shirt.

"Sandbenders…took…Appa?" Aang's question was barely above a whisper. He had a white-knuckled grip on his airstaff.

Sokka pulled his sister back a few steps right as Aang exploded.

"You lost Appa?!"

The wind around them picked up violently with the airbender's temper, sand going fast enough to scrape skin.

Toph, stubborn to the end, stood up to face him and set the record straight. "I said he was stolen!"

"Why didn't you stop them?!" Aang demanded. "You're supposed to be this amazing earthbender! What happened to that? Why are there no sandbenders knocked out and on the ground?!"

"I was a bit busy lifting a library," Toph ground out at him. "It was you or Appa! Appa's of no use to anyone if you're all dead!"

"Oh, so you think he's useless, now?" Aang fairly snarled. "You never liked Appa. You let him get away on purpose!"

"How could you even say–"

Katara shook off her brother to step between the two. "She never said that. Toph saved our lives, Aang."

"Well we're gonna need more saving, then," Sokka remarked, "because now we're stuck in the middle of the desert with no ride."

"That's all he's ever been to you." A very red-faced Aang spun on Sokka just as the older teen realized that he had once again put his foot in his mouth. "A ride. A convenience. None of you truly cared about Appa! Not like I do!" His glider snapped open.

"Aang, please–"

But he was already gone on a sudden updraft, too far to hear them anymore.

The silence that descended on them was a heavy one. Callous as it sounded, Sokka wasn't wrong. They were stranded in the desert with no supplies.

And now they were also short one very upset airbender.

The flash of disdain that crossed Matthew's face as he watched the retreating airbender's form was so fast that Katara almost didn't catch it. He was the first to speak as he helped Toph find purchase on the shifting sand that blurred her vision so badly. "We start walking?"

"...Yes," Katara said at length. "We start walking."

The sun beat down relentlessly on them as they traveled. Every step seemed a half-degree warmer. These conditions were not typically enough to deter a few firebenders, but the road was just so spirit-damned bright on this rocky, drought-ridden savanna–whenever Zuko blinked, he saw green instead of black.

Iroh didn't seem to mind. (Of course, he was also the one riding the ostrich horse. Uncle privileges strike again.) He kept a small steel canteen specifically for tea. The ambient warmth made it easy to steep while walking. It had cooled enough in the saddle bag by now that Iroh was willing to sip and share. In his mind, tea was the greatest morale booster.

No one yet had the bravery to tell him that he was the only one to think this. Zuko and Alfred took very small sips.

"Okay, you guys are being weirder than usual."

Zuko and Iroh exchanged a glance. Uncle hadn't acted on anything yet, and Zuko didn't know how to broach the topic himself.

"And ya did it again!" Alfred jabbed an accusing finger at the two of them. "Don't think I'm missing all these significant looks you're giving each other. I deal with politicians on a near daily basis; I practically have to identify them for a living."

Zuko narrowed his eyes sharply. "Politicians?"

"Oh puh-lease tell me you're not on some paranoid shit." Alfred gave Zuko a look of his own. "Aaand you are. Yup, I see it. I see the look. Believe me, I can relate: Imaginary assassination plots and everything. Once I accused a store clerk of embezzling for the Russians when he overcharged me. I threw his whole register through a window…Did I ever tell you that they had to put me on medical leave for 'mental health reasons'?"

Zuko blinked, confused. Alfred brought that out in him a lot.

The blond sighed in a way that for some reason reminded Zuko of a very old man. "Yes, Zuko. We have politicians back home. It's kinda endemic to human civilization. Like…pants. My job back home has a lot of them."

Iroh was bemused. He generously passed the last dreg of his tea to Alfred. "Politicians, or pants?"

"Both."

Zuko dropped his head into hands that did nothing to stifle his beleaguered groan. "Agni, you make my head hurt."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Alfred drained the tea all in one go, a peculiar micro spasm of displeasure crossing his face the same way it always did whenever he was made to drink tea. As usual, Iroh didn't seem to notice. "Don't avoid the question. What's the deal?"

"We have a suspicion," Iroh said slowly. Carefully. "About you–not of your intentions." He raised a staying finger before Alfred could protest. "But rather a potential side effect of your appearing here."

"Lemme hear it," Alfred said, predictably. He appreciated subtlety about as much as Zuko did.

"You young people are so hasty," Iroh sighed.

Alfred's laugh was unexpectedly harsh, and petered out into a slightly hysterical chuckle. Like he'd just heard a particularly bad joke.

Zuko was concerned. Alfred was alarming enough without a random bout of madness to top it all off. "Alfred?"

"S-sorry," Alfred took a deep breath to get his strange episode under control. "It's just–...a thing. You wouldn't get it."

Iroh and Zuko spared another glance at each other, one that Alfred thankfully didn't see. It hadn't been so obvious before, but now they couldn't help but notice that Alfred was being…strange. Moreso than usual. Zuko was unsettled. Iroh was thoughtful. "Alfred, are you having mood swings?"

Alfred made a face. "Don't make it sound like I'm menstruating."

"You can have mood swings without menstruating," Zuko said flatly, in no mood for yet another weird Alfred-esque qualm. "Mood swings can happen to anyone."

"Well no shit, Doctor. But like, could you not say it like…that?"

Zuko folded his arms to keep a tighter hold of his own temper. "Look who's avoiding questions now."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Boys, please." Iroh held up a staying hand. Alfred glowered at his feet and Zuko subsided with a grumble. "I think I have my answer. Alfred, this isn't normal for you is it?"

"Mood swings, no. I try to keep it easy going. But I have moments like anyone else…" The blond shrugged noncommittally. "Besides, who wouldn't be upset in my situation? I can't understand what anyone is saying most of the time, your god or whatever is playing sick games with the animals, and y'all don't even have indoor plumbing."

"Some places do," Iroh's expression was somehow both nostalgic and pained, "the palace did."

"So you understand how upset I am right now."

"Acutely."

Alfred seemed momentarily satisfied with this answer. Then he frowned. "Palace? You lived in a palace?"

There was something vaguely unpleasant in Alfred's tone that Zuko couldn't quite put a finger on. Whatever it was, he was almost good at keeping it to himself.

Iroh shrugged very deliberately. "It's been some years, Alfred. Hardly matters now."

Alfred seemed upset until a gust of dry wind blew from nowhere. It carried sand and grit that made them all squint. Alfred took a deep breath, sampling the taste of it. "I smell a desert. That's a good thing in our case, right?"

"How do you know?" Zuko was curious.

"I've been in a few." Alfred slowed down. He squinted at the path ahead of them, and how it bent into a blind corner. "Um…"

He didn't need to finish. There were sounds coming from somewhere behind that giant rock. Not good ones. Zuko rearranged his dao for easier reach.

Alfred eyed him. "Expecting trouble?"

"Expecting bandits," Zuko said shortly. This really wasn't the sort of thing they needed to go over again, was it?

"Pessimist," Alfred snorted. Zuko was fascinated to watch the blond's unstable mood visibly bounce him back into a high. "Not everyone's a bandit."

They didn't have any more time for this. The turn was coming up now, and the scene that revealed itself was not a good one.

A lopsided wagon laden with household essentials and grain. A wheel was missing–Zuko hoped it hadn't been lost to fire.

The wagon was charred along one side, a woman and two children crowded up helplessly against the other side. One older man with white at his temples who moved like a soldier and one clearly untrained young man with a spear were doing their best to face off against five Fire Nation militants mounted on komodo rhinos.

"I recognize them," Iroh said, stopping to dismount and tie ostrich horse and supplies away from the chaos ahead. They hadn't been noticed yet, but their time was borrowed. "The Rough Rhinos: a very deadly group of weapons specialists…and I might add a very capable singing group…"

"I don't hear any singing," Zuko said. He drew and separated his dao, knowing full well that despite them–

"And a banished prince on top of it all!" the one with a platoon leader's rank markings sneered as they approached. "It's my lucky day, isn't it?"

–he'd probably get recognized immediately.

"Colonel Mongke!" Iroh greeted with very convincing joviality, transitioning smoothly into Common Language. "Why, it's been years! Has your military career been as successful as I forecasted?"

"You could say that, General," Mongke sneered. "I'm performing reconnaissance right now, with some additional incentive to capture some bothersome fugitives…dead or alive." To emphasize his point, he sparked his vambraces against each other.

The Earth Kingdom citizens, confused and scared and burned as they already were, shied away from them.

"You're not very good at reconnaissance, then," Zuko scowled up at him. "I think the locals know you're here."

Iroh frowned, making a big show of stroking his beard. "I didn't take you for the raiding type, colonel. And civilians?" Iroh tutted. "You should be ashamed."

For the absolute briefest of moments, it looked like the former general's words had hit Mongke right in the chest…and then that moment was gone. "Enough of this!" he snapped and pointed. "Round them up! Take what you can carry!"

A dark-skinned man with a weighted chain moves first. He twirled it and sent it straight at Iroh. The ex-general spun and kicked it aside. The chin ended up wrapping around the leg of the mount being ridden by their Spearman. Iroh rolled to avoid Mongke' s fireblast and slapped the caught komodo rhino, sending both him and the chain-thrower off down the road.

It had very nearly collided with the felled wagon. "Alfred!" Zuko indicated furiously as he deftly split an arrow that was clearly aimed for his heart.

"On it!"

The blond rushed past him to intercept the civilians before they could become a bigger liability. Instead of reasoning with them directly, he scooped up both children and jogged for a large boulder away from the road. It was smart, Zuko admitted privately. The adults yelled their protests and followed him, not willing to let the children out of their sight. Now they were all out of the line of fire.

And not even looking this way. Zuko used this to his advantage, shooting a precise dart of fire that cut through the bothersome archer's bow and string. Before the archer could do anything else, Zuko ran and jumped onto his 'rhino and shoved him off.

Zuko knew he'd broken a few ribs when he used the archer's chest as a dismounting block. He didn't feel too bad about it.

Alfred was back faster than should have been possible, and the colonel had taken issue with him. Alfred narrowly missed getting fried by some well-aimed blasts of fire, his ridiculous laugh ringing high over the chaos. Zuko darted to intercept the colonel's barrage, forcing the man to split his attention between two very different opponents.

Zuko would never consider himself the greatest of firebenders. He didn't have a great array of fancy combinations up his sleeve, never could get his opponent to react the way he wanted them to, would charge too far into his opponent's measure more often than not…But he didn't shirk his training. Iroh made certain he had his basics down cold.

For example: wresting the flame out of another firebender's control. An essential technique for habitual duellers or even just rigorous sparring sessions. It was also frequently neglected, because it was difficult to master, or even use for very long.

Zuko grasped at those stray strands of chi that he could only vaguely sense and pulled. Mongke growled as his fireballs went awry and extinguished themselves. Alfred used this moment to his advantage. He charged back at the colonel with a mad grin, swinging his hammer in a vicious high arc and sending it devastatingly into the komodo rhino's head.

That crack against the beast's thick skull was audible from feet away. It hit the ground, and Alfred used its limp body as leverage to step straight into Mongke's own saddle. He grabbed the shocked man by his breastplate, crumpling metal as easily as cloth. Mongke went flying into a boulder that was a good twenty yards away. Alfred brushed his hands with satisfaction as he stepped away from the animal. No one would be getting up from that one anytime soon, if it all.

The final Rough Rhino, a masked bomb specialist, tossed a metal can at the ground right near Alfred.

"Alfred, look out!"

It was too late. Just as intense blue eyes met his own, the can went off with an impressive percussive blast of black smoke and fire.

"NO!" Zuko faced the masked rider and snarled. His blasted attack hit the rhino first, blinding the beast and causing it to panic. It bucked and ran off, carrying his rider away as well.

Oh no, he wasn't gonna let this one go so easily. Zuko looked around for their ostrich–or even another rhino to commandeer, but Iroh came seemingly from nowhere to hold him back. "Look, Nephew."

The smoke was clearing. Alfred was still standing, a near-perfect ring of scorch marks on the ground around him. Dazed and mildly blackened, yes. But otherwise untouched.

Zuko forced himself to take a calming breath. Thank Agni…or. Wait. Zuko shook his head. They weren't done here. He nodded his head towards the damaged wagon. "Uncle, the civilians."

Iroh sighed as Alfred staggered over to them. He gently closed the blond's fingers over his too-warm and inexplicably smoking palms. "A conversation for later."

The family was reluctant to emerge from the cover they'd been placed in. The first was one of the younger men, bravely holding a spear between himself and the revealed firebenders as he crept forward towards the wagon. "Y-you're here to finish us off, huh?"

Zuko, still coming down from the fight and thinking Alfred had died, had to work hard to keep from snarling impatiently. "Hardly."

Iroh briefly subtly squeezed Zuko's arm. The usual warning to hold his temper. "Simply rendering some much needed aid."

"We don't want help from your kind."

"Our kind were the ones that rescued you," Zuko snapped at the stubborn Earth Kingdom peasant.

"Gao Du you will not dishonor me like this!"

The elderly soldier marched back to the path and physically pulled the young man back. "If you can't find it in yourself to be an adult, you can go join the children back there and let your mother look after you."

Thoroughly chastised, Gao Du the spearman subsided with a nearly silent rumble. The older man quickly turned his attention to Iroh and bowed stiffly. "You have our thanks…General." He stumbled over the title, like it left a strange taste in his mouth. When he straightened, his expression was wry. "To be honest, never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd say such a thing to you. I was still on active duty during your siege at Ba Sing Se."

Iroh's eyebrows shot up.

"One of the raiders called you by your title," the man said. "There aren't many firebending generals…and you're about old enough." He paused deliberately. Then, "He also called you a fugitive. I mean, I've seen the wanted posters but…"

Iroh inclined his head ruefully. "These years have been interesting for me. I have learned much since those times…many lessons being in regret."

"What a world," the man exhaled. He looked…conflicted, hearing this new information on a man that he'd probably spent many sleepless nights cursing. "And now you're–what, hiding?"

"And traveling," Iroh affirmed. "With my nephew, and lately young Alfred. We're looking to resupply and secure passage across the desert."

The man glanced over at their lone ostrich horse, taking in its sparse packs. He seemed to have come to some kind of decision. "Well, then."

The retired soldier introduced himself as Gao Song. He and his family were traveling to a distant village in Zaofu that was said to have greener farmland than Tu Zin. The crops simply weren't making it any more here; the wells were quickly going low and dry. Alfred proved himself oddly useful once again, using his hidden and apparently well practiced wagon-fixing skills to rearrange salvageable boards to make the charred wagon serviceable again. The family had a spare wheel, and Alfred skilfully whittled down a narrow stick to replace the destroyed linchpin.

The mother was absolutely besotted with the strange and mute young man that had saved both her children and their wagon. She pushed some 'more respectable' clothes on him as thanks. Zuko thanked her on his behalf. Alfred really did need to ditch the blue trousers with the weird stitching if he wanted to blend in. He'd only acquired one spare tunic since arriving, and the weird stretchy one he'd met them in wasn't holding up to the rough travel at all.

Iroh accepted the food rations gratefully, and listened patiently to the childrens' embellished tale of their mighty stick-fight by a working well just a day's travel down the road. Zuko took note–they had canteens to refill.

The sun was low when the wagon was finally done and the burden beasts were recovered, but Song packed his exhausted family back into the wagon anyways. They had time to make up, and those Rough Rhinos had still gotten away alive. He'd made it clear that he didn't want to be around for another firefight.

"I don't know what to think about this," the retired soldier grouched mildly. "That you got what you deserved, being cut off from your own nation and all that? Or…something." He shrugged. "You saved us. Thanks for your help, but we're going to get away from this spirit tale you seem to be stuck in."

Iroh bowed. "Thank you for your kindness Gao Song, and Lady Gao Ning. May your travels be —unexciting from here."

Once the family was barely more than a speck in the distance, Alfred visibly sagged with weariness. "Man, I forgot how tedious wagon repairs can be. I'm rusty as hell."

"Looked fine to me," Zuko shrugged.

"Dude, you don't understand. I probably haven't touched a wagon wheel in decades."

"Decades? You're barely twenty."

"It's an expression, geez." Alfred wandered over to a rock and sat down with a groan. "I think I have a fever."

Iroh smiled, a twinkle of mischief in his eye. "Well of course Alfred, seeing as how you've just come down with a rather severe case of firebending."

In the depths of his dramatic wallowing, Alfred almost missed it. It took him a second, but his head finally snapped up to give them both a bewildered look. "Wait, what?"

Achievement Unlocked: Hospital Residency

Achievement Unlocked: Chronic Illness

For you guys, that means an update. Morphine was my beta. Please leave a review if you've got the time; they're always appreciated.

Later dudes. ^J^