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At first, the only thing anyone could do was to stare at the water in shock. Aang and Sokka looked at each other; worry and fear etched on their faces. But as Zuko stood up and brushed past them, their concerned expressions changed to alarm.

The prince's lips were set in a furiously determined scowl as he strode purposefully back the way they had come. He didn't even bother to see if the others were following, and after a moment or two of confused surprise, they all hurried after him.

By the time they caught up with Zuko, he was already kneeling by the unconscious warden, shaking him roughly.

"What are you doing?" hissed Sokka urgently.

"Getting answers," Zuko replied coldly without looking up. As the man groaned groggily and began to stir, Zuko grabbed him by the back of the neck and lifted his head only slightly from the ground.

"Where are the Kyoshi warriors?" he demanded in a low growl.

"Wha-, who?"" asked the man blearily.

"The two girls brought in earlier today," Zuko clarified icily, "where were they taken?"

It struck Sokka that he had heard that passionate and relentless tone of voice from the prince before, only now it seemed even more intense than it had when Sokka was on the receiving end. He found this quite strange, but didn't have time to dwell on it, for the warden was answering.

"The governor," the man replied in a mixture of fear and dizziness, "for questioning."

"And where can I find him?" pressed the prince.

"Middle tier," the warden's voice was growing weak as he struggled to maintain awareness, "house…overlooks the city…"

Zuko unceremoniously dropped the man's head, letting him slip back into oblivion with a thud. He stood up and was about to head toward the exit, when Aang stopped him.

"Wait, what about Bumi?"

Zuko turned and stared at the Avatar in bewilderment, apparently having forgotten the reason they'd snuck into the city in the first place.

"Aang's right," Sokka interjected to no one in particular, "we're not going to have another chance to get him out of here." Turning to Zuko, he switched into 'plan mode'. "You said earlier you have a good idea of where they're keeping Bumi, so you and Aang go get King Crackpot and Toph and I will find the girls."

The prince hesitated, and seemed about to protest, but instead merely hardened his jaw and gave a curt nod before turning around and heading back into the prisons. Aang and Sokka both looked at Zuko curiously then exchanged questioning glances before parting ways.

Sokka stared after the fire bender, puzzled by his behavior. If he didn't know better, he'd say that Zuko was even more worried about the girls than he was. The water tribe boy was about to ponder this development, but Toph's voice broke him from his reverie.

"What are we waiting for?" she whispered harshly, "Let's go!"

Shaking his head, and with one last look over his shoulder at the retreating prince, Sokka headed after his blind friend.

"You know, I never imagined the two of us would be sneaking around a prison again," Aang commented idly as they made their way carefully down the empty corridors. Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he added quietly, "I never did thank you for that."

Zuko stopped short at this remark as he realized that Aang was referring to his liberation by the Blue Spirit. Bowing his head, he let out short breath of mixed irritation and disbelief.

"I didn't rescue you, Aang," he explained bitterly, keeping his eyes on the floor. "I was stealing you from Zhao so I could take you back to the Fire Nation myself. I wanted to go home and I've have done anything to accomplish that."

Aang said nothing for moment, only narrowed his eyes at the prince shrewdly. "I don't believe you," he announced at last.

"What?" Zuko whirled around to look at him incredulously.

"You just said you'd have done 'anything'," Aang asserted innocently, staring Zuko calmly in the eyes, then quirked his head to one side as he finished, "but you didn't."

The prince was irately dumbfounded, and it took all his willpower to keep his voice to a whisper.

"Of all people, how can you say that? I chased you all over the world, terrorized villages, fought and captured your friends, I…I nearly got us both killed trying to drag you through a blizzard, because of me you almost died in Ba Sing Se!" He took several shallow breaths, suddenly at a loss for words.

Unperturbed by the prince's tirade, Aang only regarded his former enemy quietly, once again feeling that ageless sense of wisdom from earlier.

"Why did you free Appa?" the boy asked softly.

Zuko's stared at the Avatar, stunned, and then looked away as doubt and confusion set in.

"He's a fuzzy ten ton monster," he answered petulantly and without conviction "what was I supposed to do with him?"

"You could have left him imprisoned, or hurt him. In fact, you could have hurt a lot of people. But you never did," Aang reasoned soberly. He took a breath as he let his words sink in and waited for Zuko to meet his gaze again before continuing.

"You said last night that you never believed in this war…and you never believed in capturing me either…did you?"

Seconds spanned the breadth of eternity as the two boys contemplated one another. The flicker of an epiphany flashed in Zuko's eyes, and Aang's spirit rose as he saw it, but the moment was shattered when the prince turned away.

"We need to keep to moving," he said emotionlessly, and started walking down the hallway.

Aang only let out a defeated sigh of disappointment before following.

Iroh waited patiently in the dark alley, eyeing the guards for the first sign of trouble so he could jump in and help the others get out if need be. The two fire benders were talking quietly when a winged object came whirring out of the dark prison entrance.

"What the-?!"

They peered into the night sky, trying to figure out what it was that had come flying out the door.

"A bird maybe?" asked on uncertainly.

"Or a squirrel-bat," mused the other.

Looking at each other, they shrugged dismissively, leaving them completely blind to the return flight of the boomerang that clanged against the side of one man's helmet just as the ground beneath the other suddenly shot several feet up. Before the first sentry could make a woozy recovery, the second came crashing down on top him, rendering both unconscious.

Sokka stepped out of the shadowy doorway and picked up his boomerang before Iroh could even finish processing what had happened. The first thing the old fire bender noticed as he hurried to the prison entrance was that there were only two people.

"Where is everyone else?" he asked uneasily.

"We had to split up," Sokka explained quickly, "Aang and Zuko are getting Bumi, and we need to find the governor's house. Katara and Suki were taken there."

"Good thing I asked for directions," Iroh said, staring bemusedly at the comatose guards, "I know just where to find the place."

"How is that?" asked Sokka, skeptically as the three of them headed down the street.

"They told me," The old man said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder as he led the way. He then glanced at the boy as he confided seriously, "it's near a teashop."

The fallen guards groaned as Zuko took the cuffs from their belts and fastened them around their wrists. Meanwhile, Aang stepped over them carefully and peered into the dark cell.

"Bumi?" he called in hushed tones.

"Aang?" piped up the old man as his face emerged from the shadows. The shackles binding his arms and legs rattled and clanked as his head appeared in the barred window on the door. "Oh how nice of you to come visit me!"

"We're going to get you out of there," Aang whispered as he methodically tested each key in the lock on the door.

"Aw," whined Bumi, "but I was just about to take a little nap."

The Avatar's shoulders slumped. Remembering the king's refusal to be set free the last time, Aang's face twisted into a dejected grimace.

"Please tell me you aren't still 'listening and waiting'," he pleaded.

"We-ell," Bumi drawled mischievously, "that all depends."

"On?" Aang queried anxiously, his heart sinking.

The old king turned to regard Zuko with suspicion and the banished prince shifted uncomfortably, unable to meet the hard gaze.

"Who's your friend, Aang?" asked Bumi craftily.

The two boys exchanged uneasy glances as Aang hesitated on whether or not to reveal the fire bender's true identity. Seeing the Avatar's uncertainty and sensing the reason behind it, Zuko answered the question himself.

"I'm Prince Zuko," he said quietly, offering a respectful bow to the King of Omashu.

"Fire Lord Ozai's son," stated Bumi knowingly, to which Zuko merely nodded. Bumi narrowed his eyes mistrustfully then asked, "And why are you here?"

"I came to help," answered Zuko earnestly, sounding almost desperate for the old man to believe him. But this response seemed only to annoy Bumi, for he frowned.

"I didn't ask about what you came here to do, young man," he scolded impatiently, "What I want to know is why."

Zuko was taken aback by the question, not sure what the difference was. He looked to Aang, expecting him to be equally confused, but the Avatar only smiled serenely and enigmatically at him, as if he already knew the answer to Bumi's question, and was merely waiting for the prince to figure it out as well.

In the space of a breath, Zuko suddenly recalled the things he'd seen that morning while meditating, the conversations he'd had with Aang recently, and the overwhelming terror of seeing his father's likeness towering over the city.

The puzzled look on Zuko's face soon gave way to dawning comprehension as his uncle's question from days ago echoed in his mind. 'Are you aiding and protecting the Avatar because it is your destiny? Or is it because, in your heart, you know it is right?' For the first time since it was asked, Zuko suddenly realized that he'd known the answer all along. He finally looked King Bumi in the eye as he responded confidently.

"Because this is right."

Bumi's harsh expression broke into a toothy and deviously satisfied grin.

"That's exactly what I've been waiting to hear."

Toph pressed her hand to the ground outside the governor's house, searching for the familiar forms of Suki and Katara. Iroh stood watch to make sure no one entered the garden courtyard, while Sokka waited anxiously for the blind earth bender to find the captured girls.

"They're in the main hall," she said at last, "and they're both fine."

"How far in?" asked Sokka, sounding thoroughly relieved.

"If we go in the window to the left, there are three empty rooms and a guarded hallway to get through."

"How many guards?"

"Six."

Sokka frowned. With six guards in the way, an alarm was sure to be sounded before they reached the girls.

"Maybe we should wait for the others…" he considered aloud.

"Under different circumstances, that might be a good idea," replied Toph, her voice taking on an abrupt sense of urgency, "but I don't think we have time for that now."

"Are they doing something to Suki and Katara?!" panicked the warrior, getting ready to rush to the window.

"No," she replied gravely, pressing her hand more firmly against the ground and scowling angrily, "but General How didn't keep his word."

"What are you talking about?" asked Sokka skeptically.

"The Earth Kingdom troops tunneling up from under the city," she announced as she stood up. "They're launching the attack…right now."