It took about half an hour for everyone to leave the musty basement under what had once been Chen's Noodles; a crowd pouring out of the alley would have raised the Dai Li's suspicions immediately. Of course, the Dai Li were suspicious anyway, especially after someone found Ying's pamphlet drafts a couple months ago. But Zuko hardly cared.

He left beside Jin as he always did about five minutes after Ying left alone. He had a new pamphlet tucked into his robes-it was nicer work from the kid than usual, even if the last half had been not been bound with the first half. Jin walked close to him and steered them into the little dumpling shop on the corner. The lanterns were lit, and it was a clear spring night. The Lower Ring was still busy, though most of the crowds had gone home.

Just as they were seated, a familiar waiter came up to take their order.

"Jet! I thought it was weird you weren't there," Jin greeted with a stale sort of cheer Zuko doubted Jet would notice, and Jet offered her a sly smile.

"Hishao asked me to cover him last second. Was gonna blow him off, but..." he shrugged. "So, what? The same thing? And you better fucking tip, Li."

Zuko scowled. "I would tip anyone else but you."

Jin sighed. "Jet, cool it. It's my turn to pay anyway." Jet flashed her another smile, and Jin smiled back, cheekily; Zuko was already red in the face and in a bad mood.

He hated Jet-or he did most of the time. When they were somewhere dark and out of sight, that was another story, but out in public, he wanted nothing more than to punch his stupid teeth in.

Jin was alright. In fact, Zuko had come to thinking of her as a friend. He knew she suspected what he was-she would be a fool not to, after the one date they'd gone on-but it had never seemed to really bother her.

Meanwhile, about half of anything that came out of Jet's mouth was about how much he loathed the Fire Nation and how much he wanted everyone-even the innocent civilians-wiped out. Jin was much more grounded, and that was why he hadn't thought too much about following her into the first "poetry" meeting if it meant avoiding a five-hour-long rant from Jet while he cheated him and his little gang thoroughly at cards.

Of course, now Jet came to those meetings, too, but Zuko figured they might be good for him. There wasn't much room to hate the Fire Nation there.

Jet left and came back with not the drinks either of them had requested. With one sniff, he knew it was a terrible alcoholic concoction of Jet's own making; Jin and Zuko exchanged a knowing glance.

"Jet, can we please have some water, too?"

"Go on, try it," he said, still lingering at their table. Zuko sighed, and lifted the drink to his lips.

He regretted it, but forced himself to swallow it. Weirdly, it had some sort of gingery aftertaste. Across the table from him, Jin was struggling.

"It's very strong," she said truthfully, and Zuko nodded along.

"That's the point!" Jet agreed. "I call it the Get-Fucked-Cocktail."

"I work tomorrow," Zuko said flatly, pushing the drink toward the center of the table. Jet frowned.

"So does everyone. Your point?"

"I work in the morning. I can't drink this."

Jet rolled his eyes. "Li, seriously? Your life would be so much better if you would get drunk more often."

"My uncle-"

"My uncle, my uncle-do you hear yourself? Finish the Spirits-damned drink. Then you're staying at my place tonight, and I'll make you another."

"No."

"Jet, please. Water?" Jin interrupted before Jet could tell Zuko otherwise. Jet finally left them, pulled away by a table with an older couple; Jin reached for Zuko's hand across the table, and held it even after he flinched. "Hey. You're fine."

He blushed, grumbling incoherently under his breath and pulling his hand away to his lap. Jin sniffed her drink one last time before she pushed it to the center of the table, and then leaned forward.

"Li. I am saying this as your friend. You need to dump him."

"We're not together!"

"Whatever. I know you're...something."

"I am not talking about this."

"I'm glad you told him no." Zuko groaned, sinking in his seat and burying his head in his hands. "I just don't like it. I feel like he's always trying to get you drunk or high or something, and-"

"Jin. Stop. We are not talking about this."

"Do you know how close I was to telling your uncle that night Jet kicked you out, after...you know?"

"You can't tell my uncle! He's-he's old!" He's traditional, he meant to say; the exact situation with Jet, as well as the nature of the meetings in the basement with Jin and Ying and the others, were likely to appall him.

"Well. I didn't. And I won't. But I was-and am-worried," she said pointedly. A few seconds later, Jet returned with their waters.

"Take a drink, Li. I can tell you're worked up," he said, having the audacity to wink. Jin snorted, but eagerly took her water. "You don't have to stay the whole night. Anyway, Smellerbee said she misses you."

"I'll think about it," he replied sulkily. Jin raised an eyebrow but said nothing, and Jet once again disappeared into the restauraunt.

"What? Smellerbee is nice," he muttered, and his companion merely shook her head.

"I've been meaning to tell you, there's this new guy at my work."

"Jin, please-"

"He's really cute, and he's one of the understudies for Shu at the Middle Ring Theater! I was going to ask if we could get discounted tickets or something-"

"You really don't have to-"

"And the most important thing is, he is really nice..."

oOo

His uncle was still up when he got home. Despite the late hour, he tried to invite Jin in for a cup of tea. She graciously declined his offer, citing Zuko's morning work schedule and her own, before hurrying back down the stairs and around the corner to her family's apartment. If she hadn't lived so close, Zuko was sure Iroh would have berated him for not walking her home.

"Jin is a very lovely girl," Iroh said, for maybe the thousandth time. Zuko said nothing, shedding off his outer robes into a pile before collapsing on his sleeping mat. "Nephew, please put those in the laundry basket."

Zuko groaned. "I will tomorrow morning. Sleep, now."

"You shouldn't be out so late, even if it is to enjoy a date with a beautiful girl-"

"It was not a date, Uncle."

"Whatever you say. But you must remember to come home earlier. You will not get enough sleep."

Zuko rolled over, prepared to zone out the rest of the lecture, but it did not come. Instead, he heard his uncle shuffle over to him. A warm hand gently squeezed his shoulder, but Zuko did not look up.

"Goodnight, Prince Zuko."

His heart hitched, and the hand left.

"Goodnight, Uncle," he replied. The light in the apartment disappeared, and he listened as Iroh situated himself under the blankets.

oOo

Pao's was slow until about lunch or so. His Uncle was off and instead a new girl named Kani was working. She was absolutely terrified of him for whatever reason, always nervously looking anywhere but his eyes, and avoided any interactions with him beyond what was absolutely necessary. It both drove him up a wall, but also relieved him. Because he was the most experienced present employee as far as tea brewing went, it meant Kani stayed up front with the customers, while he remained in the back.

He only had a couple hours left by the time Jin burst in, just ahead of the lunch rush.

"I need to speak to Li," Jin said, walking past Kani toward the kitchen. Zuko stepped into the doorway, still holding a teapot.

"What's wrong?"

"Ying," she said, her eyes wide. "He was arrested last night."

"Fuck."

"Guo and Fen told me told me they tried to raid Bai's place, too, but he got away. The whole corner is under surveilance, though," she added, dropping her voice to a whisper. "I think we're fine, but we shouldn't...just, keep our heads down, you know?"

Zuko set the teapot down and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fuck. This is bad."

"Ying's not gonna-"

"Not on purpose," he cut her off. "But-they-"

"I know, I know, but Li-"

"My uncle's gonna kill me if..." If they were caught, and arrested? If their (mostly) peaceful life in Ba Sing Se was upended? If he found out his nephew had unwittingly joined a political group that was...well...extremely not traditional?

Zuko had never really discussed the finer points of political theory with his uncle. War strategy and history were one matter, but everyday, he was reminded of his family's legacy, his family's purpose. Whether Agni had actually blessed them or not, or they were descended, or whatever, Zuko had no idea where his uncle's spirituality and political ideals merged or conflicted. He didn't want to find out.

His uncle had treasonous opinions he did voice from time to time, but they were about individuals and political actions, not the structure itself.

He had considered more than once over the past year he'd been in Ba Sing Se what it would be like to return home. He had considered, in the last six months, what that would actually mean.

Only a month ago, he had imagined an action he could take-one he dared not voice, definitely not to Jin, as she lacked the context, and certainly not to his uncle.

And yet-despite it all-Zuko wasn't quite sure he was a traitor.

"Does Jet know?"

Jin's face darkened. "I know what you're planning. Don't."

"I haven't planned shit."

"That's only more cause for concern." She glanced up front and Zuko followed her gaze; Kani was taking orders, and no one seemed to be paying them any mind. Pao wasn't even around as he'd had an errand to run. "Where is your uncle, anyway?"

"Uh-he's, uh, it's his son's birthday," he muttered.

"Oh." Jin was usually quick to understand, and glanced down before sighing. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"Li, please. Promise me you won't go do something stupid with Jet. Please."

"It won't be stupid, whatever it is." Jin did not smile. "Jin, seriously? Doing nothing is going to be the worst option, here."

She stepped closed to him, her eyes blazing. "Smellerbee told me about the Avatar's bison a year ago-"

"And nothing happened! It was fine!"

"Nothing happened? Sorry, did you forget about the part where Jet almost died for like, a month, and then you had that illness-"

"Completely unrelated-"

"Well, your uncle believed it was pretty related, when I asked him," she ended with a huff, her arms crossed firmly across her chest. "Don't stick your neck out. Especially not now."

Zuko groaned, reaching for the teapot. "Jin, I just...I need to get back to work."

"Go straight home after," she said just before Kani nervously approached from behind her. "Or else."

oOo

Zuko absolutely did not go straight home after Pao's. In fact, he went straight to Jet's apartment.

It wasn't much of an apartment. It was more of an abandoned mostly-shielded-from-the-elements space that had popped up when someone tried to connect two buildings over a cramped alley. It had a door, though, and some stairs, which was overall an improvement from Jet's last place.

He knocked. "Jet? Smellerbee?" He knocked again. "Longshot?"

The door opened suddenly, and Longshot's sullen face greeted him. Zuko nearly jumped back but caught himself before he tripped himself down the stairs.

"Hey-uh-is Jet around?"

Zuko had never been very good at reading any of Longshot's expressions without Smellerbee there to translate, but he was fairly certain Longshot meant to say something to the tune of, Seriously? Before dinner?

"It's about Ying," he said defensively, blushing. "He-the kid, you know, that does the pamphlets?-he's been arrested."

Longshot frowned, but stepped aside to let Zuko through.

The apartment was undecorated and messy. A bin on the counter was overflowing with dirty bowls and cups. The table was covered in playing cards, three knives, and a book (definitely not Jet's-Zuko was fairly certain he was illiterate), while the floor beside it was covered by three sleeping mats, a few separate piles of clothes, and several scratchy-looking blankets. Overall, the room smelled slightly sour.

The door shut behind him, leaving the two teenagers in dim light.

"They're going to make him confess," Zuko said, nervously. Longshot was taller than him, and he'd always been distinctly under the impression he was far more vicious than either Smellerbee or Jet. "And then probably brainwash him. Send him as a plant, at the least. And then..."

"A rescue mission." Longshot's voice was soft and dark. Zuko swallowed, nodding.

"I figured-we've all been before."

Longshot did not respond. Instead, he shuffled over to the table, clearing away some of the cards. Hesitantly, Zuko sat across from him.

Jet did not come home until just before sunset.

oOo

Going out with friends. Will be back late. -Li

oOo

Jet met him on the roof. The sun had just sunk below the wall. On rooftops nearer to Jet's work, they met Smellerbee and Longshot.

The night was young. Zuko felt it in his lungs, catching the glint of Jet's hooks as they leapt across the Lower Ring. He imagined that it was similar to how the Avatar felt, light as air, as he danced around his assailants. The thought did not weigh on him as it might have a year ago.

The Avatar barely mattered anymore. He was a specter from another life. He had cut away part of him when he had freed the bison under the lake. Something else in him had grown in its place-something pleasant, but frail.

"Li," Jet said, when they paused on a rooftop. He gave a command.

Li, everyone said, at Pao's, under Chen's, and in the market. His face was easy, the name easier. It would be easy to bury him beneath a stone engraved with just Li.

Lake Laogai was dark and still.

"Li," Smellerbee said.

They were under the lake. Jet was not a bender, but his hand was hot on his shoulder, leaning toward him. Zuko imagined his body on a pyre, instead of in the earth.

"Li?" Ying was just a kid. He was thirteen, maybe fourteen, and belonged in one of those private schools for gifted children in the Upper Ring. But he was poor, one of six children, and too skinny. His glasses were gone, and his nose was broken.

Zuko took him on his back, Jet just behind him. Ying's skinny arms dug into his shoulders and around his neck, but he said nothing.

"Li!"

He didn't know who shouted.

Jin was going to kill him.

(She would put him straight in the ground. She would have them carve into the stone, Li, Nephew of Mushi.)

oOo

Zuko woke up in a dark cell, his head pounding. He groaned, feeling where something hard-a rock, probably?-had met the back of his skull. He forced himself to sit up and crawl over to the bars.

The hallway was lit with green crystals, and was too dim to allow him a view into the cell across from him. He nearly leapt out of his skin when he realized that two figures stood on either side of his cell door-Dai Li, he realized.

He was fucked. So utterly fucked.

Neither earthbender uttered a word to him. In fact, besides his own movements and groaning, the prison was silent.

He started to play out the worst case scenarios. It wasn't like he was all that anonymous-his face was too distinct-and it would be a walk in the park for anyone to connect him back to his uncle or even Jin. If Jet hadn't made it out, then it was likely Ying hadn't, either, and that meant the entire group was compromised. His failure had potentially damned everyone he had come to care about.

But of course, that was hardly new. He had always failed those he loved. He had always brought suffering and misery with him everywhere he went, whether it had been his own family, or his old crew. His father had been wise to cast him out, and his poor uncle too misguided to abandon him.

Uncle.

To think, that his uncle was finally happy, and he'd so foolishly ruined it all-even after Jin had warned him. Shame welled up in his throat; he clenched his fists, bowing his head, furiously willing away the anguish that threatened to pour out of him. He didn't deserve it.

He was not sure how much time had passed, but eventually he heard footsteps at the end of the hall. He refrained from leaning against the bars to see, opting to wait until his visitor faced him directly. He sat crosslegged, his eyes carefully downcast, conjuring up what he hoped was a mask of cool indifference.

It was a pointless exercise; he had always worn his heart on his sleeve. There was nothing that could disguise the shock and anger that coursed through him the moment he realized it was his own sister staring back at him, smirking.

"Zu-zu," she crooned. "How wonderful it is to see you again, dear Brother."

"Azula," he growled, gripping his knees. "What are you doing here?"

"So rude. You can't even humor me?" When he said nothing in reply, she continued. "I'm here to do what you and Uncle couldn't."

"Great for you."

"Thank you, Brother, it is." She glanced at her nails, sharpened like dragon claws. He was struck with the image of her fanged, ripping out his throat as if he were a meek koala-sheep, and suppressed a shudder. "I was pleasantly surprised to discover that you and uncle have been rolling around with the peasants for a year. Father will be so pleased to have Ba Sing Se, the Avatar, and his traitor of a brother. And you, of course. You won't be able to disgrace our family for much longer."

She glanced down at him again, her eyes glinting in the green glow of the hallway.

"You do remember the penalty for treason, don't you, Zu-zu?"