Azula was almost impressed. Zuko had managed to surprise her. He'd found the Avatar and was, at the very least, traveling with him. An impressive feat, considering the Avatar had not been seen in a hundred years.

They seemed to be traveling vaguely in the direction of the Fire Nation, but Azula wasn't actually sure on that point. Half of the time the ship was going on the most direct route to the Northern Water Tribe, the other half of the time it seemed to be practicing evasive maneuvers.

She'd been in contact with Zhao- he could confirm that he'd fought an Airbender. He hadn't seen the boy use any other elements, but apparently the Airbender wasn't even sixteen yet. By all accounts, even if he was the Avatar he shouldn't know about it yet.

He'd called himself the Avatar though.

So, either her brother had been taken in by a clever ploy, her brother was conning the Avatar into coming to the Fire Nation with him, or her brother had joined the Avatar.

She couldn't really see any of those being true. Iroh would have outed a conman. Zuko was a terrible liar. And her brother was ridiculously loyal to their father. Finding the truth would certainly be interesting.

They were getting closer now- very close. Their ships were significantly faster than Prince. Soon she'd see her brother again. And she could figure out what exactly was going on.

…-…

Hakoda was not happy. The Earth Kingdom was not happy. He was, however, pretty sure that the Fire Nation was happy.

Or maybe they weren't? The Avatar was back after all.

Which was good.

But apparently, those idiots the Earth Kingdom had hired had changed sides and were now working with the Fire Nation Princess.

It made sense, the Fire Nation was significantly richer than the Earth Kingdom, and the men were pirates.

Still. Hakoda wasn't happy with that turn of events.

And that wasn't even touching on the fact that the Wani had apparently been sold to a group of Pai Sho fanatics, the Fire Nation Prince and the Dragon of the West had disappeared, the Avatar was traveling on the Prince, a ship Hakoda had hired to take letters and supplies to the South Pole, and that apparently both of his children were traveling with them.

Oh, and the Fire Nation Princess was chasing after the Avatar, and so was also chasing after his children.

The rest of the Fire Nation Navy was doing something, but no one knew what. If it was more important than the Avatar though… that was concerning.

Hakoda didn't have the men to fight the entirety of the Fire Nation Navy. He could, however, chase after his children. He could save them.

They were getting close now. Very close.

…-…

Zuko was concerned. They were in the middle of the ocean. Their ship, being a merchant vessel, did not go very fast.

There were two groups of ships chasing after them.

Both were familiar.

The Water Tribe on one side. The Earth Kingdom on the other. The Earth Kingdom ships were significantly closer.

Zuko would have thought they were working together, except for the fact that a Fire Nation ship was leading the Earth Kingdom vessels.

Zuko glanced over at Uncle.

Uncle looked back. His face was calm, open. He looked like he thought they'd make it through fine. It couldn't be true, but it was comforting anyways.

Zuko glanced over his shoulder to where Aang, Sokka and Katara were standing beside Appa.

If worst came to worst, Sokka and Katara could be used as a ransom. Don't attack us of we'll kill them.

Something in Zuko's gut twisted at the thought. He couldn't- he wouldn't actually do something like that. He wouldn't kill them. He would threaten them though.

They probably wouldn't forgive him for it, even if he told them it was a lie, but it might be necessary.

They had no such leverage against the Earth Kingdom, or against the Fire Nation. Zuko rubbed at his scar.

"Jee!" Zuko called. It still felt weird not to call the man Lieutenant, but they were supposed to be a merchant vessel and so were also supposed to not have military ranks.

Jee turned towards him. "Set course towards the Water Tribe fleet." Zuko said, "We need to be headed towards them as fast as we can go."

Jee glanced towards Iroh, who nodded.

Zuko felt himself bristle at that, but forced the reaction down. He probably should have talked to Uncle first- Uncle usually could see the pieces and parts of the puzzle that Zuko missed.

Still, Uncle agreed with him. Had likely come to the same conclusions as Zuko had.

This was their best chance at survival.

…-…

Sokka was obnoxiously happy about the fact that they were going to be seeing Hakoda. Zuko knew he should probably tell Sokka why he felt like he was about to throw up, but he figured the whole truth would come out soon enough whatever happened.

Zuko glanced back at the Earth Kingdom ships and cursed.

The Fire Nation ship had split from the Earth Kingdom vessels and was coming upon then much faster as a result.

Even with Prince heading full out towards the Water Tribe ships, they were going to meet with the Fire Nation ship first.

In this case, as in so many others, there would be no escaping the conflict.