Sokka squinted at the symbols carved roughly into the gatepost. "Serpent's Pass." He made a show of looking around. "Jagged rocks, a narrow trail with crumbling sides…I see no way this could go wrong."

"You're the one who picked this place," Aang reminded blandly, staring up the steep track with an unreadable expression.

"It was the only solid land with a straight shot to the city," Sokka said a bit testily. "We're still short one ten-ton flying—"

Katara elbowed her brother hard in the gut before he could finish that sentence.

"It's okay, Katara," Aang said. "I'm not going to blow up again. For now we should focus on getting this information to the Earth King." He started up the trail without even looking back to see if his friends were following.

"Getting tired of the attitude," Toph sniffed. "Might take a page from my parents' book and deal with it if he keeps it up."

"Nah, that'll just make it worse," Sokka said. "You can't force him to feel better about Appa."

"Yeah, well this isn't gonna cut it either," Toph retorted bluntly. "We're all upset. He's being rude about it…and I'm pretty close to done with it." With this stated, she was the next one up onto the trail.

Katara looked to Sokka and Matthew a bit desperately for some agreement. "We can't expect Aang to act normal when it just happened."

"Toph has a point though," Sokka mused. At his sister's look he raised his hands. "Okay, but listen. Aang's entitled to his feelings. But you saw what happened back there. Flying away, leaving us alone in a giant desert? Blaming everyone else for a stupid tragedy? Nearly killing us all in a sandstorm?" He shrugged. "I know he's a kid. But you've gotta admit that this weird front he's putting on right now is…well, kinda scary. It's got me thinking there's gonna be another blow up."

Katara sighed a bit helplessly. "What do you think, Matthew?"

"You know what I think," Matthew said. And it was true, he'd made his position pretty clear the last time Aang had blown up at them all in the desert.

"Aang's just having a rough time right now," Katara insisted. Why was no one else in the group willing to cut him slack for that?

"Most children grieve loudly," Matthew acknowledged. "Loss is more difficult for them. Except Aang's tantrums are too dangerous. And what he's doing now…is a tantrum in the making." He looked at her like he wanted to say something else, and hesitated.

Sokka raised his eyebrows expectantly. "Spit it out, Matt. We're gonna have to catch up to those two pretty soon."

The blond ducked his head apologetically. A weird reflex that they couldn't seem to break him out of. "It's just–it was similar for my brother. He is too strong. Even as a child, he could throw a fully grown bison into the air."

Sokka gave a low, impressed whistle. "So your whole family is weird like you?"

Matthew shrugged noncommittally. "I guess." A brief, fondly wry smile found its way onto Matthew's face as he reminisced. "We're all strong, but Alfred is on another level." He sobered then, quickly returning to the matter at hand. "He was an energetic child with a lot of emotions. His tantrums made expensive damage. Our father had to do something about it."

Having helped raise plenty of the tribe's youngest, Katara balked at this. "B-but that's just how children are. Your father wouldn't let your brother be a child, simply because he was strong?"

"He was allowed to be a child," Matthew retorted firmly. "He also accidently broke another boy's shoulder once by pulling too hard. It was important that he learn not to lord his gift over others, and to not be careless. He had to learn these things early, because that is part of what it took to raise him." Matthew spread his hands entreatingly. "Please understand my words. People with gifts have to control themselves, and they have to start young. It doesn't sound fair, but it is how we keep people safe."

"...I think I understand," Katara said slowly. "But Appa was Aang's last living companion from his life a hundred years ago. I can't just tell him to suck it up and keep moving. I don't think I'd be able to do that in his position."

"I'm not saying not to support him," Matthew said. "I'm saying don't let him forget the people around him when he's about to explode. He has friends. He shouldn't act like he's alone."

Sokka watched yet another menacing black ship chug forcefully through the choppy ocean waters, barely suppressing a shudder. "I thought these were Earth Kingdom waters…shouldn't the Earth King be, I dunno, keeping the Fire Nation out of it?"

"Earth Kingdom's navy isn't all that great these days," Toph sniffed. "Most of the experienced officers have already been taken by the war–only the big wigs are left. Ya know, the ones that haven't seen a front line in decades?" Toph paused deliberately. "–At least according to my dad's rants that I wasn't supposed to overhear."

"The Earth King will jump on it when we tell him about the eclipse," Sokka said confidently. "It's just the kind of information a guy like him needs to turn the tides, good navy or no."

At least, that's what Sokka was hoping for, after everything they'd gone through to get this information in the first place.

Sokka took stock of their situation.

From the practical side, they still had no ride. And despite how the others felt every time he mentioned it, Sokka knew that it was still a good and pertinent point. The sandbenders had made sure to hook them up with a good amount of supplies. Several agonizingly slow miles later they were learning just how much they'd been relying on Appa's saddlebags–these packs were heavy after a while.

From the morale end of things, Aang was still being…weird. Katara was worried about Aang, while Matthew had gone and used all those new words from his teaching books to get all parental on them. At least Toph's mood had recovered pretty well after Matthew had called out what Sokka privately called Aang's "blame game" back in the desert. Sokka himself was just trying to roll with the punches and keep them all moving in a productive direction.

It was getting to be a whole lot of punches, though.

"Ship's stopped," Matthew said suddenly, pointing out into the bay.

The Fire Nation vessel that had passed them by a short while ago was rotating, presenting its broadside towards them. An smoking orange pinpoint of light, accompanied by the faintest, dreadfully familiar whistling sound as it got larger, closer—

"We've been spotted!"

The fireball collided with the jagged black cliff above them, sending a big chunk of it raining down towards their heads. Sokka shoved Katara out of the way of an incoming boulder the size of a small igloo. Toph was almost too late pulling a ledge from the intact part of the cliff to sheltered Sokka from the blow.

Aang scowled at the ship and swept rocks away and into the ocean below with a vicious motion of his staff. Several of the rocks went awry, colliding with Matthew's leg and bringing him down with a cry. Even from across the field, Sokka could see the red of an open wound. Katara ran to assist, water already streaming into her hands. Sokka cursed and chased after her. "We need to get him out of here first! They're gonna realize it didn't—!"

More whistling–another fireball coming their way already. From the corner of his eye, Sokka saw Aang launch himself off the path straight at the incoming projectile. Sokka heard an ear-splitting shriek and a CRACK! as he reached Matthew, taking the blond's other shoulder to help his sister stand him up. All Sokka knew for sure was that the fireball never landed.

Matthew bit his tongue fiercely on what were probably foreign curses as his leg was jostled, hopping painfully with them towards cover.

"I know, buddy, I know," Sokka said, hoping it was soothing. Katara had always been better at this sort of thing. Hell, Dad was better at this sort of thing. "We'll getcha fixed up in a second."

"Am fine," Matthew gasped. "Had this before."

The path weaved naturally to the other side of the narrow crest of mountains, effectively giving them both cover and an escape route from the ship. From Sokka's perspective it was slow going, but for some reason the ship did not fire again in time to stop them.

Maybe Aang had scared them or something. And with the mood the Avatar was in right now, Sokka could totally imagine him bringing up the entire shoreline just to strand the ship on rocks.

Matthew hissed as he was set down. Katara got right down to business, forcing him to extend his leg for her. It was…pretty bad. All of the flesh and bone below the knee was red and mangled in a way that Sokka wasn't sure his sister knew how to fix. She'd never actually completed her training with Yugoda. They couldn't afford to give Pakku a reason to kick her out of his class.

But Katara looked determined as her water began to glow blue. "You'll be alright, Matthew."

Matthew let his head fall onto the cliff wall behind him with a grunt. "I know that." A pause, then he added, "I heal fast with no help."

"You'll heal even faster with help," Katara retorted shortly, not even entertaining that particular hairbrained idea.

Aang hovered uncertainly near them, not quite sure what to do and not quite looking at Matthew's leg. For all their travels during the war, Sokka knew he hadn't seen an injury like this up close before.

And Sokka had seen what happened back there. Aang had been so focused on keeping the rocks from hitting their heads that he hadn't really looked at where he was sending them. Anyone knew that was an easy mistake to make, but Tui and La, were the consequences gnarly to look at for a kid like him.

"I need more fresh water," Katara said abruptly. "Aang, could you–?"

The airbender was on it like lives depended on it. Which…well Matthew didn't seem to think so. But Sokka had yet to personally see the self-proclaimed freaky healing powers in action, so he was gonna go ahead and reserve judgment and be worried with the rest of them.

Aang returned, shouldering past them all to deliver the water directly to Katara, taking it as his cue to bend down gingerly next to her. "Is he gonna be…?"

"I promise I'll be fine." Matthew's reassuring smile became more of a grimace as something somewhere in the healing process became briefly more painful than the rest of it. "Ah…ouch. More importantly. You will be fine."

Aang gaped at him dumbly. "Huh?"

Sokka was inclined to agree on that front.

"This sucks," Matthew elaborated. "But I will get through this. Bad things ar-ow. Very ow, Katara. Are temporary. Worse things are temporary."

It didn't look as bad now that it was cleaner…well, the skin was still very much shredded, but the bone was straight now and it wasn't bleeding all over the place.

"This won't stop me," Matthew intoned seriously. Those odd violet eyes had that uncanny shine to them that cropped up whenever Matthew was having one of his weird–things. Like now. "But even if it did, I would just overcome it differently. That's what we do with tragedies."

"I-I know," Aang said, his voice wavering. "I know I can't allow myself to lose control over my emotions again. That's why I'm–trying to manage them better."

"You're bottling them," Matthew corrected immediately. "You're pretending they don't exist, which doesn't work. You must face them. Talk about them. Deal with them in a way that doesn't end in angry bending accidents."

"No focus," Toph murmured, nodding along with what Matthew was saying. "Your bending gets big and flashy when you're pissed, but then you miss the details. That's why you missed those rocks that hit his leg."

Aang hunched in on himself. "I'm not…I don't want to hurt anyone. But now your leg's all messed up and everything's all messed up no matter what I try and—!"

Sokka risked looking down at the leg in question again. "Oh, wow."

The gash was already smaller than it had been by a third. It was so slow to the human eye, but they could all see muscles and tendons knitting themselves back together over exposed (and magically whole) bone.

"It gets better," Matthew said firmly. "Don't let the bad things make you a monster…not that your friends will let you get away with that sort of thing."

"I'll beat you up before you do," Toph promised, cracking her knuckles for emphasis.

Aang finally (finally!) smiled. A very small one, but from Katara's expression you'd think it was the first sunrise after a long winter.

Aang crossed his legs and sat down fully. "You kinda remind me of my old teacher right now. Except…less old."

"I don't look my age," Matthew said. Then his eyes widened comically at the slip. "Eh…"

"That particular cat-owl's kinda outta the bag already." Toph shrugged very deliberately. "You talk a lot when you're dehydrated. We just don't have a name for your…species, I guess?"

It's supposed to be a secret," Matthew murmured, a bit shamefacedly. "My brother would be pissed. I haven't made a mistake like this in–ever, actually."

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Katara said, breaking out of her healing trance and leaning back on her haunches.

"Don't listen to her," Aang blurted. "You have to tell us, like, immediately. Or I'll never get to sleep tonight."

"And your brother isn't here right now~" Sokka goaded in a sing-song voice, because this mystery had been killing him for days already.

"It's weird to explain," Matthew said evasively, glancing aside and then down. "Don't want you to…think differently of me."

"I promise you're weird already," Toph reassured with a smirk. She folded her arms expectantly. "You fit right in."

Matthew thought about it for a long moment before finally sighing in defeat. "Well, since you're all watching this heal anyways…"

Iroh looked out onto the calm, moonlit waters of the very aptly named Full Moon Bay. He caught movement from the corner of his eye. It was Alfred, leaning casually up against the railing with him. Iroh turned fully to appraise him. He was finally wearing the clothes given to him by that refugee family on their journey. A leaf green tunic with emerald edges, and brown pants that were a little too short for him. And–...of course. Iroh didn't bother concealing his chuckle. "You're so stubborn about that jacket."

Alfred shrugged, reaching up to stroke the fur collar contemplatively. "Reminds me of home."

"I can tell." Iroh idly glanced up towards the captain's quarters and kitchens. He saw no sign of Zuko or his temporary allies, but of course if his nephew was doing this correctly, Iroh shouldn't spot him at any point.

It was heartening to see his nephew finally engaging in healthier outlets for himself.

"I don't like the idea of Zuko going off with that other kid," Alfred said at length. "Especially not alone."

'Funny, he has said the same thing of you.'

"Zuko has completed far more dangerous operations with far less support," Iroh reassured patiently.

Alfred adjusted his position on the railing to better face Iroh. "I get that, but his company tonight just gives me…bad vibes. Y'know their ring leader followed me to the other side of the ship just to throw a recruitment pitch at me?"

Iroh raised both eyebrows, interested. "How did you know what he was saying?"

"I, uh…picked some words up lately." Alfred reached up to rub the back of his neck–a mild nervous habit of his. "It'd prob'ly be harder for me not to after all this time here."

The old firebender hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps it's for the best. You not knowing the local language will make our time in the city much harder than it needs to be."

"That would mean admitting that I'm stuck here and can't do anything about it."

"Child…you are."

Alfred looked away again and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "Don't call me a child."

Iroh knew an opportunity when he saw it. There was a conversation that Iroh had hoped to have with Alfred in private…and Zuko wasn't here right now. He began to work at that exposed nerve.

"To these old eyes, that's exactly what you are."

The blond frowned at him. "Then you need an eye doc–wait. Do you guys even have optometrists here? Anyways, I'm not a—"

"How old are you?" Iroh interrupted smoothly. "Seventeen? Nineteen at most? Your life's barely begun, Alfred. You're too young to act so jaded."

"What are y–Hey, I don't act 'jaded'."

"Oooh there are times. Particularly when you think no one's looking." Iroh made a show of tutting lightly and shaking his head "Some evenings I think you're worse than my own nephew, except he's had the experience and upbringing to match his attitude."

Alfred had gone very still, staring at Iroh with an unsmiling expression that was…hard to place. It was a delicate balance that Iroh was trying to maintain with his prodding. He wanted Alfred to react. He didn't want Alfred to storm off or shut down.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Alfred's voice had taken on the uniquely weighted quality of something…older.

Perhaps he should have felt guilty taking advantage of Alfred's emotionally volatile nature, one being accented very strongly by his new firebending. But oh, it was so close to revealing itself. Iroh cocked a calculated eyebrow in challenge. "Pray enlighten me."

Spectacled blue eyes seemed to hold a fey light beneath the moon, like candles lit by Princess Azula herself. Those eyes considered him soberly for a long moment, before Alfred released his tension with a loudly exhaled breath. "I shouldn't."

Iroh snapped his fingers in open disappointment, effectively jolting Alfred out of his 'otherness'. The blond blinked in the face of Iroh's wry look. "You did that on purpose."

"Well of course," Iroh waved off Alfred's short-lived ire with a careless hand. "I've got to pass the time somehow, and I do believe I'm on the cusp of figuring you out." He leaned in conspiratorially and added, "I do detest being out of the loop, you know."

"Maybe it's a secret for a good reason," Alfred grumbled, "and you should leave it well enough alone."

"Perhaps in your world. Here?" Iroh spread his hands. "Who is there to hide from? You are as free to be your whole self as any other stranger here."

"You say that," Alfred pointed out, "as we hide our firebending and both of your identities."

Iroh refolded his arms into his sleeves and smiled up at the taller firebender. "Mm, fair point. But that's just the human politics of the day. You know how exhausting that can be."

Alfred allowed himself to relax fully onto the railing once again, letting out a very long and tired sigh. "I sure do."

Zuko tore into his bowl like it was the last good meal he'd have for a long while. And with his luck these days, that was a very real possibility. Iroh sat to his left, attempting conversation with Jet and his posse. Alfred stayed glued to his right, staring into his own food to defy any and all attempts at meaningful eye contact from Jet.

It was awkward to watch, especially as Iroh had pulled Zuko aside to give him the rundown of Jet's attempted recruitment of Alfred. The blond was apparently doubling down on the mute thing…and seemed to be adding deafness to the act.

"Have you thought about what I said?" Jet asked him, trying and failing once again to win the blond's attention.

"You're not going to get much out of him," Zuko warned quickly. He needed to nip this in the bud. "He's a…selective mute. And mostly deaf."

"Selective mute, eh?" Smellerbee, snorted and elbowed her partner playfully in the ribs. "Still chattier than this guy, I bet."

Jet considered Alfred (who was still steadily ignoring everyone around him) seriously. "I figured he wasn't much of a talker. Didn't realize his hearing was messed up too. How did it happen?"

"From birth," Zuko answered, figuring that would be the easiest cover story to remember. "The healers in, uh…our village. They couldn't do anything to help."

"We've been taking care of him since his parents died in a Fire Nation raid," Iroh added convincingly. Zuko had to resist the urge to slap a hand over his uncle's mouth for making the story more elaborate.

"We've all been hurt by the Fire Nation," Jet said with a sage nod. "That's why I started the Freedom Fighters…to make them pay."

"But we're done with all that. Now we're going to Ba Sing Se for a second chance," Smellerbee told them. She set a fierce look on her leader. "Aren't we, Jet?"

"Of course, Smellerbee," Jet reassured quickly, wincing slightly under the force of her glare. "No more of that stuff."

Their circle became uncomfortably silent. Iroh tried to salvage the conversation. "So…Smellerbee. Such a strange name for a young man."

"Maybe because I'm a girl!" Smellerbee immediately shot back at him. Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose as she lurched to her feet and stomped away. "Uncle–did you really think she was a boy all this time?"

"That lumpy cuirass is deceiving," Iroh answered sheepishly.

Longshot stood up to go after her. Jet supervised bemusedly from afar as the silent archer…comforted…her…? No words were exchanged.

Zuko decided all at once that was enough socializing for the day. Iroh could distract these guys well enough with tea and stories without help. He excused himself, gesturing for Alfred to follow. It was time for bed, and no guerilla fighter recruiters needed to know where they were sleeping.

They'd broken camp again early in the morning, not wanting to lose any more time. Had Sokka known this would be the next obstacle, he might've suggested they hitch a ride with the Fire Nation boat back there. As it was, the Water Tribe teen stared hard across the long stretch of water, and how the path seemed to reemerge from the other side. Something about the whole thing was…ominous. Even more so than the entrance had been. "The map doesn't mention anything about the path going underwater. You'd think that was important, right?"

"It's no big deal." Katara swept her hands over the water and made a parting motion. The water cleared away from the path directly ahead of them. "Everyone just stay close."

The group pushed forward right behind her. Once the water was almost over their heads, Katara asked Aang to close up the other end. Aang copied her fluid motions, encasing the group in a giant air bubble.

Matthew poked at the wall with a curious finger. Much to his dismay and everyone else's amusement, a trail of water followed it like glue. "Ah–hey, the water is stuck to my finger—" He tried to use his other hand to pull it off manually. It froze the moment his free hand got close, leaving him with a finger icicle. He made a frustrated noise and glanced around helplessly. "What do I do now?"

"Melt it?" Sokka offered around a chuckle.

The blond gave him a very even look. "I do not know how."

Toph laughed. "Sounds like you're gonna have your hands full with this one. Not quite a 'prodigy', is he?"

Matthew rolled his eyes and started trying again to pry the stubborn icicle off of his finger.

Momo seemed content to ignore the proceedings around him, instead occupying himself by jumping in and out of the bubble, aiming for the assorted colorful fish swimming by them.

Several things happened at once. Matthew let out a victorious whoop, holding up his now liberated finger. Momo jumped back onto the bubble with an alarmed screech and tried to hide beneath Katara's hair. The walls exploded in a mess of scales and rushing seawater. In the noise and confusion, Toph stomped the ground and pointed her palms up, raising the ground beneath them to above the water and into relative safety.

The water was deceptively calm again, like they hadn't just seen what they saw. Katara did a quick headcount. Everyone had made it. "What was that thing?"

Sokka squinted into the water. He could just make out a long, dark shape rising towards the surface.

And it was coming up fast.

He stumbled back just as the water exploded again, nearly colliding with Aang in his haste to get away from the edge.

A huge serpent with sickly green and white scales burst from the water and leered down at them with huge, pinkish eyes. It let out a short, rasping hiss that echoed over the cliffs as it reared up in preparation to strike.

Serpents Pass. Sea serpents. Sokka would've smacked himself over the sheer obviousness of that one if they weren't actively trying to survive right now.

Aang leapt off of the small island Toph had made, jetting straight towards the monster. He sent a few air blasts towards its face and eyes to try and drive it off. Katara went to work forming a bridge of ice for the rest of the group to make their escape to solid ground.

Sokka was already across by the time he realized that Toph wasn't behind him. He looked back out to the water—she was still out there. "Toph! C'mon, let's go!"

"I-I'd rather stay on this tiny island where I can see," the earthbender called back shakily.

The serpent's giant tail shot out of the water in an effort to bat Aang out of the air. Aang violently repelled its tail away from him, straight into Toph's little platform. Toph lurched forward on reflex, finding herself on the miraculously intact ice bridge. "Ah-o-okay! Coming!" She began inching her way towards them.

"You're doing great!" Sokka yelled encouragingly. "Just follow the sound of my voice!"

The earthbender's witty retort was cut off as Aang delivered his finishing blow to the sea serpent. The creature crashed back into the water with one last defiant whip of its massive head, destroying Katara's ice bridge on the way down.

Toph screamed as the ice beneath her feet shattered. "I can't swim!" She was quickly overtaken by the troubled water.

Matthew dove without a moment's hesitation. Aang landed a moment later, smiling from his fresh victory. His smile faded, however, as he noticed who was missing. "Where are they?"

The Water Tribe siblings exchanged a look. Katara pointed out to the spot in the bay that they'd seen Toph sink. Aang, fearing the worst, looked as if the world had already ended. They waited by the water's edge with bated breath.

When Matthew finally burst out of the water with Toph's limp form in his arms, Sokka let out a whoop of relief. He and Aang quickly helped take Toph from his arms and out of the water to lay her out on the ground. Katara made quick work of the water trapped in the earthbender's lungs. Toph lurched into a sitting position and coughed out the remaining irritating droplets of ocean water.

Aang took Toph's hands in his, as if cementing the fact that she was alive and well for himself. "Thank the spirits you're alright! I don't think—" He stopped to take a deep, shuddering breath. "I don't think I can handle losing anyone else."

Toph chuckled hoarsely despite her shaking as she leaned into Matthew for support. "Wow Twinkletoes, you look rougher than me–and I was the one drowning!"

The airbender laughed weakly along with her. Katara started gently pulling water out of Toph's and Matthew's clothes.

"You're a really fast swimmer, Matthew," Aang pointed out curiously. "Did you use waterbending? Or was that your…" Aang made a big, vague motion in Matthew's general direction. "...geography-ness?"

"Nationhood," Matthew corrected. He shook his hair out and tried patting the frizzes down in a futile attempt to restore it. "My father, er–adoptive father? He taught all of his colonies how to swim. I'm one of the better swimmers out of us."

"Your dad sounds like a smart guy." Toph stood up, waving off any assistance. "Smarter than mine, anyways. Puh-lease tell me there's no more water on this trail."

"The map says it's smooth sailing to Ba Sing Se from here," Sokka said with no small amount of relief. "We're nearly out of Serpent's Pass."

The group seemed positively renewed after hearing this. Absolutely everyone was ready to get away from this trail that seemed so intent on getting them all killed. Katara brushed her dress straight and clapped her hands together authoritatively. "We should get moving, then. We can probably reach the city by this afternoon."

They'd managed to disembark in the morning without running into Jet or his misfits again, something for which Zuko was distinctly relieved. Their covers were flimsy enough without all of the additional scrutiny.

The docks at Full Moon Bay were logistically impressive to a degree that even Zuko had to acknowledge. Everyone knew that Ba Sing Se was a stronghold for the Earth Kingdom's military and political resistance. However he doubted that even the Fire Nation realized the massive scale of the operations of this single cavernous bay. The amount of trade coming through these ports alone–!

"Ah, perfect." Uncle waved for the tea vendor's attention. The approaching rattle of the man's overstocked cart had Zuko frowning slightly. Getting to Ba Sing Se hadn't left much money between the three of them.

But on the other hand, they had not been afforded many luxuries since Zuko's ship had been destroyed a while back. The old man deserved to take some small joys for himself. So, Zuko would hold his peace.

Except Iroh had paid for two cups of tea instead of one. Before Zuko could even open his mouth to question, Iroh had already handed the other one off to a rather confused Alfred. "Time for a lesson."

He did not just hear something so stupid from someone who was supposed to be older and wiser than him. Absolutely not. Especially not in High Court, even as loud as it was in this cave between the echoes of people, trains and the constantly lapping water of the bay beyond the wall they'd already been processed through.

Zuko leaned in close to the grayed Firebender. "You'd better be joking."

"I am not," Iroh refuted cheerfully. He angled himself towards the tall blond (and away from the heat of Zuko's forbidding stare). "Now what do you notice about this tea?"

Alfred thought hard. "Well…it's a–black…tea?"

Iroh nodded encouragingly. "What else?"

"Smells bitter?"

"It does."

"Probably tastes better with milk?"

"A matter of opinion."

"The cup is chipped?"

Iroh smiled with grandfatherly patience. "Think like a bender, Alfred."

"It's, um…" Alfred's eyes lit up suddenly. "Oh! It's cold, right?"

"Pipe down," Zuko hissed. The blond's voice carried all too well in this crowded space.

Alfred winced and brought his voice down to a more manageable level. "Y'know, cold tea is a normal thing for one of my bigger regions back home? Iced and very, very sweet."

Iroh looked briefly ill before taking a deep breath. "Hopefully you can take some of this wisdom home with you someday," he offered very diplomatically. "Here, the tea is hot. Or rather, it should be hot." Iroh glared at his own cup rather balefully. "Anything else is a disgrace to tea. Watch carefully."

The old firebender took his cup into both hands, straightened his posture slightly and took several measured deep breaths. In a matter of seconds, steam was curling off of the surface of his tea.

Alfred's lips parted in awe. He looked at his own cold beverage, and then back to Iroh's freshly hot one. "But…you didn't move?"

Zuko swallowed down the sudden panic of realizing the full extent of this Very Bad Idea. "No Uncle, he doesn't have nearly enough control yet."

"On the contrary, I think this is the perfect continuation of his training," Iroh said. "We will not often have the luxury of total privacy in a city like this, Nephew. These are the conditions available to us, so we should prioritize the subtler things first."

Zuko disagreed with it, but he couldn't really argue it. A firebender was supposed to start on actual forms early on, both for conditioning and to practice conserving energy over longer periods (which was far more important for them than it was for other forms of bending).

But from what he already knew about the inside of the city, it wasn't like they would have the space for full-on firebending forms or sparring. Even running them dry, all it would take was one veteran who knew what they were looking at to doom all three of them.

it was a risk no matter what they did.

Iroh took Zuko's silence as capitulation and returned his attention to Alfred. "It's what you've already been practicing–except I'm focusing actual chi with my breath while I do it. Do you remember what we've told you before? What makes a fire?"

"Breath and…pa-er, emotion?"

Zuko caught the curious stumble, knowing full-well that Iroh preferred the term 'passion'. A word that Alfred seemed rather allergic to for some unknown reason. Without a doubt, his uncle had caught it as well, but Iroh seemed content to let it go for now. "Remember what you felt with that moose-lion? Or even the bomb expert. Not anger, per se. Something else. The determination. The will to live."

Strange–this wasn't exactly what Zuko had learned when he'd started firebending as a child. Despite his disapproval of the entire situation, he listened in carefully.

"You can call on that feeling even now," Iroh said. "We like to call it the 'inner fire'. It's fueled by passion–all of your emotions, really. Anger is easy, and very common for modern firebenders." Iroh glanced sideways at Zuko, likely aware that he was listening as well. "But it is unpredictable and too quick to cool in most people. Even the longest grudge weakens over time. So be very careful what passions you use."

"No anger, only other stuff," Alfred summed up simply, more to himself than either of them. A newly created rule of thumb to remember later. "Can it be somethiiiing…like, I dunno, happier?"

Iroh leaned back and relaxed more fully into his seat. "Try it."

Privately, Zuko doubted that anyone could call on something as weightless and brief as happiness on-command very easily.

…Unless you were the Avatar. Being a habitual pacifist with a ridiculous penchant for foolish mischief probably made that sort of thing easier to achieve.

Alfred gasped as his tea began to very lightly bubble, steam beginning to linger on the surface as the heat rapidly intensified. Iroh put a staying hand on the blond's arm. "Don't get too excited now. Reel it in a bit and–good. Good, Alfred!"

Or you could be Alfred. Apparently. With all his…Alfredness.

The blond beamed, incandescently happy at having gotten it right after days of nitpicky breathing lessons. Then the teacup blasted apart in his palms. Alfred stood and spat what was probably a particularly strong curse as the boiling liquid spilled all over him and then the floor.

People were starting to pay attention to the little drama playing out in their nondescript little spot. Iroh saved the very situation he'd caused by switching to Common Language and loudly saying, "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize you were still holding your tea when I grabbed your elbow so carelessly! Does someone have a drying cloth?"

Zuko massaged his temples. All of this extra attention because Uncle thought it'd be a good idea to have the novice practice firebending in public in the Earth Kingdom. Between Iroh and Alfred, who knew how long they'd actually manage to stay undercover?

Jet didn't want to believe what he was seeing, but there wasn't any denying it. Hot tea. They had hot tea, which wouldn't be possible unless—

The pale-haired one let out a strange, garbled curse and shot to his feet as his cup exploded in his hands seemingly without prompt.

It was so obvious that it was a wonder they hadn't already been arrested with the guard station being barely thirty feet away.

Jet growled and dashed his own cold tea to the ground, earning him strange looks that he firmly ignored. He turned on his heel and began to stalk in another direction. He needed to get away from the sight of those–those monsters that were masquerading as decent people.

At least until he figured out what to do about them.

Smellerbee followed up right behind him, a note of worry evident in her rough tone. "Jet?" She grabbed his sleeve. "Jet, what's wrong?"

"They're here," Jet fairly snarled. "The Fire Nation is here."

"And how could you possibly know that already?" the shorter brunette demanded. "We just got here—"

Jet cut her off impatiently. "The old man had hot tea. Tea doesn't just magically get hot. Just like cups don't just magically explode in people's hands."

Smellerbee yanked him around to make him stop and face bother her and the eternally silent Longshot. "Jet, please don't do this. A man doesn't have to be a firebender to have hot tea."

"But—!"

Another hand plopped heavily on his shoulder. Longshot's steady gaze effectively conveyed to Jet his own concern…that Jet may be getting obsessed again. That this might ruin their chance at a second life.

"We're done with all that," Smellerbee reminded him quietly. "You promised."

Jet wasn't comfortable with the guilt settling deep in his gut. He wasn't trying to…ruin his friends' lives. The Fire Nation had done that to them already. "Listen, I'm not breaking my promise. I'm going to get the evidence I need, and then take it to the proper authorities. Alright?"

Smellerbee breathed a sigh of obvious relief. "Thanks, Jet."

Longshot's lips quirked upward ever-so-slightly. A sign of approval.

Jet forced himself to take several deep, calming breaths. He could do this. He could see justice served without ruining their second chance…without letting firebenders wreck their lives again.

I'd like to thank procrastination…and my intense dislike for my only required computer class, for making this chapter possible. Hope you guys enjoy.

Later dudes. ^J^