Alright, now we finally get to see what happened to good ol' Ziyeng after the Prologue. Enjoy!

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From the point the Gaang are at, at the end of our last chapter, the following events take place two days previous. This is the day after the events of the Prologue, roughly taking place during Zuko's trip to the Southern Tribe and Kyoshi.

It had been twelve hours since Tom-Tom's unfortunate accidental death. Ziyeng had immediately grabbed a few necessary items and ran away. His wife Jia had completely refused to acknowledge him, but something told him she wasn't about to give him away either. A boat was preparing to ship to the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se. Right at the dock, Ziyeng hid behind some crates.

"Ahem," Ziyeng cleared his throat as a soldier dressed in usual Fire Nation warrior attire stepped by his hiding place.

"Ah, ex-Admiral Ziyeng, what brings you he--?" the soldier started, but Ziyeng had already taken him by surprise, jumping him and throwing him behind the crates and knocked him unsconscious.

A few minutes later, Ziyeng stepped out from behind the capes. The boat's large engines were already running.

"Come on, Guiren!" another soldier called to Ziyeng, calling him the identity of an unconscious man behind a few crates. Ziyeng, not speaking, ran on and got in line to board the ship. By the time everyone else except him was on, he hesitated. Just then he heard a mailman coming full-speed, frantically waving a slip of paper.

"Murder in the Royal Family!" the mailman yelled out. "Murder in the Royal Family!"

Ziyeng ignored the mailman and boarded the ship, closing the entrance.

"Hey, can't you hear me?" the mailman cried. No one else was able to hear him, already inside the ship. Ziyeng smirked from inside the mask and went to join the rest of the troops. It would be a short trip.

FLASHBACK – ZIYENG'S POV – SIX YEARS AGO

After finally being released from prison, I was released and was allowed to live a normal life. Lord Zuko could be so forgiving. My wife Jia, accepted me back, Longwei was now 18 and had already left the house, and my 10-year-old daughter Liu was too young to understand, or she didn't want to. I learned that Zuko actually beat Azula for a while, and then settled himself down, sending her to the Boiling Rock to "waste away for eternity". I soon came to discover that everyone I walked by gave me dark glances of hate. I sort of got used to it.

Having been stripped of my military status, I settled down to a quiet life with Jia. However, three times a week, I would practice my Firebending just to stay in shape in case the need presented itself.

About two years later, I got so fed up with my quiet days that I decided to enter in a tournament that welcomed all three Bending styles (since there was only one Airbender in the world). Imagine my surprise when I heard the Fire Lord would be attending as a competitor. Jia watched me go and I trained relentlessly for the weeks before the great tournament, simply called "Tourney" began.

When it finally came time, the tournament was a huge success. I watched thousands of Firebenders, Earthbenders, and Waterbenders from around the world, fighting other people of their same bending styles. I found the competition quite easy, becoming one of the sixty-four Firebending finalists. Waiting for my first Multi-bending round against a Waterbender, I took a seat. As a competitor I had one of thousands of reserved seats. I had a discussion with an old man next to me. I didn't know it at the time, but the discussion would change my life.

"Do you like to Firebend?" he asked casually, sipping tea.

"Yes, I practice a lot," I admitted.

"My nephew practiced a lot," the old man chuckled. "Much more than everyone I ever knew."

"Is your nephew in this tournament?" I asked.

"Oh, yes, he is," the old man sipped some more of his tea. The crazy old man had a whole pitcher of tea to pour himself at will. "He was hoping the Avatar could enter in this tournament, but that little sap rarely bends anymore,"

"The Avatar?" I asked. "Did your nephew want to face the Avatar?"

"Oh, yes," the old man chuckled. "Again."

"Again? Your nephew has faced the Avatar before?" I asked. "That must be quite the honor."

"Honor," the old man chuckled again, slightly to my annoyance. "How ironic. The first time he faced the Avatar he thought he was losing his honor."

I looked at the man confusedly. A pause in the conversation. "Would you like some tea?" he asked.

"No, I'm up in a few hours," I said.

"Ah," he said. "I see you're facing a Northern Waterbender. Let me give you a few tips,"

"What, are you a Waterbender?" I asked. He looked like a Firebender based on what he was wearing.

"No," he said, heating his tea if just to prove me wrong. "But I studied them, and I was able to develop a new technique based off of their bending styles. It almost made me feel as if I was a Waterbender."

"A Firebender and Waterbender?" I asked, laughing. "You're no Avatar."

The old man went into a short burst of laughter, then quickly recovered. "How true is that?" Then he put on a serious face. "You know, I've always wondered," he said, pulling out quill, ink, and paper as if they were always there. He drew the symbols of the four nations then split them into squares on a 2x2 grid. "We are Firebenders, correct?"

"Corr…ect…" I said, now completely lost and confused.

"Well, that puts us in this square in the elemental grid," he continued, circling the Firebending logo at the bottom-right side of the paper. "The Avatar is in the center, with the power of all four bending arts," the old man then put a circle in the center of the grid, with the circle in the corner of all four charts.

"What does this have to do with anything?" I demanded, confused.

"Now, if the Avatar is the dot in the center that maintains the element's balance. And everyone else is in one of the four boxes. Now, listen carefully. What about the dividing lines between the nations?"

The old man pointed out the four lines that split the square and connected them. "What if someone was able to cross that boundary? Now, all benders start as a dot in the center of their part of the grid. As they grow more experienced in that Bending style, the dot spreads to fill out more of their box. Now, if their entire part of the grid is completely full, and the bender gets even more experienced, then how will it spread? That theoretical square surrounding your elemental experience just may burst, allowing your experience to spread into other parts of the grid, in effect allowing you to bend another element. Now, for all I know, this could be extremely dangerous and—."

"So you're saying if, for example, I fully master Firebending to its peak, it could open up a channel that would allow it to become possible to bend some of the other elements?" I interrupted. This idea was confusing and unrealistic, but it interested me greatly.

"It's just a theory!" the old man exclaimed. "But you never know. Now are you sure you don't want some tea? I have to tend to my nephew. He is awfully impatient."

"No thanks," I said again. "By the way, who's your nephew?"

The old man smiled. "The Fire Lord!"

PRESENT DAY (2 days before the events of Chapter 4)

After a few hours of toil and labor and avoiding interacting with other soldiers, Ziyeng docked in Ba Sing Se. Now he could finally live a free refugee life, free from the Fire Lord's wrath. It's not as if he meant to kill Tom-Tom. And it's not as if he meant for the person he was training to just so happen to be Mai's little brother. They were probably hunting him right now. As he passed, an Earth Kingdom girl who looked in her early 20's was running from an Earthbender who looked in his 40's.

"You ran from home, you came home willingly after half a year!" the Earthbender yelled after the girl. "And then you run away from home?"

"I'm twenty-two!" the girl yelled. "I have the right to freedom! Now I'm leaving Ba Sing Se and you're not going to stop me!"

This looks like the perfect chance to prove myself as a good citizen and start off good. Gah, if only I could still bend!

"Get back here!" the man yelled.

"No way!" the girl yelled, using Earthbending to push the ground out and catapulting her to the ceiling. To Ziyeng's amazement, she bended a hole in the ceiling allowing her to fly through, then closed the hole again.

"Gah!" the man who was chasing her got on his needs. "Xin Fu needs the reward money! Come back, Toph!"

Shrugging, Ziyeng went back in line. Before he knew it he was inside the city and in Earth Kingdom garments. With his large pay from being Admiral in the past, he was able to construct a house and rest there. It was almost nightfall, and a few boys were playing outside. Ziyeng was resting outside his rented home on a bench on the front porch, observing the streets nearby. The boys were picking on a young girl, probably ten, though she acted very mature for her age, with short black hair and dark brown eyes.

"Hey, Hope, I heard your dad was so poor, he had to get you here on the Serpent's Pass!"

"So?" the girl yelled back. "He's rich now! You boys are so immature!"

"Hey!" a boy, offended, advanced toward her, and picked up a rock with Earthbending and hurled it at Hope. Ziyeng stood up.

"Eek!" the girl screamed, and instinctively ran away. Ziyeng stepped down the steps.

"Haha!" a troublemaker taunted, "You can't bend!"

"Can't bend?" the girl turned around, clearly angry. "I'll show you bending!"

The girl turned around, and summoned an enormous rock twice her size. "I've had it with you jerks!" she hurled the huge rock at them, the boys narrowly missed, running away like cowards.

That's amazing. I've never seen a girl so young bend so well... Could this be the replacement for Tom-Tom he had been looking for? Deep down, Ziyeng knew he had to teach someone how to learn his revolutionary skill, and with Hope's prodigal skills it looked possible. Preferably a child; they could learn it early and have more time to develop it… maybe it would even catch on. Plus, what the Avatar did to Ziyeng, he would never do to an innocent child… but this girl was younger than Tom-Tom, which made the risks bigger. He knew he had to be more careful. Fortunately, advanced Earthbending wasn't as nearly as dangerous as advanced Firebending.

"Hello, Hope, is it?" Ziyeng tried to sound genuinely friendly, walking up to the young Earthbender.

"Mom says I'm not allowed to talk to strangers…" Hope said, wide-eyed and backing away from the approaching Ziyeng.

"Oh, oh, it's okay," Ziyeng showed he was sincere; he had to, or he wouldn't be able to teach such a strong young bender. "I just want to tell you a secret. It's about bending. You don't have to come within ten feet of me if you don't like. I can't even bend!"

"Er… okay," Hope sounded wary, about twelve feet from him. "What's your… secret?"

FLASHBACK – ZIYENG'S POV – TWO MONTHS AGO (2 months before present day events of this chapter)

Wow, I thought. This Firebending boy was extremely skilled for his age of eleven. Perhaps… perhaps he could teach him… Deep down, I knew that I had to teach someone, or the technique would be lost.

"Hello, Tom-Tom, is it?" Ziyeng sounded genuinely friendly, walking up to the young Firebender.

"That's my name!" the young boy grinned. "The Fire Lord's my cousin!"

"Oh, you don't say?" I mumbled. Darn, this would make it a bit complicated. Even after ten years, he still had less-than-friendly relationships with Lord Zuko.

"So whatcha want, Admiral Ziyeng?" Tom-Tom asked.

"How do you know my na—," I started, worried he would turn me down because of my… er… past relationship with his sister.

"Oh, you're famous for your battles during the war! Your brother is… er, was… too!"

"Yes, Admiral Zhao was a great man," I reminisced with childhood memories of my brother and me. "So, Tom-Tom, I've got a secret for you. Do you want to know it? It's about bending."

"Cool!" Tom-Tom said. "So what's your secret?"

PRESENT DAY

"What's your… secret?" Hope asked warily.

Ziyeng sighed. Should he really bring a young girl into this? An older boy died because of him. A younger girl wouldn't make things any easier… but Hope's skills far surpassed Tom-Tom's at a younger age. Alright, I'll do it. Ziyeng took in a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

"So, Hope," Ziyeng said, stroking his beard. "How would you like to learn how to bend all four elements? Not just Earth, but Water, Fire, and even Air."

Hope's eyes widened. "That's not possible."

Ziyeng chuckled. "Oh, believe me, it is." Ziyeng thought back to his encounter with Aang. "You have no idea."

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"If only I could still bend?" What's that supposed to mean? Well… you'll find out. XD

In case you don't remember, Hope is the daughter that was born to the refugee family in The Serpent's Pass and a short part of The Drill.

Please review! It really motivates authors to keep writing when they get feedback. :D Not that it's a bribe… or is it? :) lol jk