The prison complex was situated in a series of long, bleak iron passageways beneath the palace. Outside one of the boxed-in metal holding areas, Ty Lee was walking on her hands, balancing a tray with several empty plates on her feet.

"Hey, look, Mai!" the acrobat smiled, holding her weight on one hand. "Isn't this a neat trick?"

"I can't believe you're touching the floor here with your bare hands," Mai groaned, "ew. This place is filthy. How long is Azula going to leave us down here, anyway?"

"Not much longer," the Fire Nation princess's sharp voice announced as she appeared from the shadows, "at least, not you, Mai. Ty Lee, go and fetch one of the Dai Li to watch the prisoner."

"Sure thing, Azula!" Ty Lee bounded upward, catching tray and dishes in one easy movement. Presenting the tray to Mai with a flippant smile, she cartwheeled off down the dank passageway.

Mai glanced down in distaste at the tray and its used dishes. "Please tell me you have something else for me to do."

"As it happens, I do. I'm sending Zuzu after the Avatar. I want you to go with him."

The girl's pale face flushed scarlet. She tried unconvincingly to look apathetic. "Me? Why?"

Azula folded her arms. "Because I'm still not convinced that Prince Zuko is on my side and not the Avatar's."

"He fought with you against the Avatar," Mai reminded her. "Against his uncle, too."

"Yes, I know," Azula admitted as she examined the sharp edges of her lengthy fingernails, "but he's been moping about like he regrets it. I want to make sure he sticks to his decision. That's where you come in. I need someone to stay close to Zuko, to keep an eye on him and make certain he doesn't turn on us." Azula's face twisted into an oddly coy smile as she gave Mai a sidelong glance. "I'd ask Ty Lee, but I figured you could use something to do besides feed my fuddy-duddy uncle, and I thought you wouldn't mind spending some quality time with Zuko. Alone. Well? Aren't you pleased? Go ahead, thank me."

Mai turned even redder. "Thanks for giving me something to do. Just tell me where to be and when to be there."

"At the palace gates, in one hour. I'll have transportation waiting to take you to a Fire Navy ship that I've placed at your disposal. Zuko will join you shortly." Azula put a hand on Mai's shoulder. "I'm placing my trust in you, Mai. I know you won't fail me."

Mai nodded. Her schoolgirl crush on Zuko hadn't entirely subsided, but that was no longer of utmost importance. She took Azula's meaning loud and clear: Have your fun with him, but if Zuko betrays me, kill him or I'll kill you.

Dismissing Mai and Ty Lee after the Dai Li officer had arrived for his shift, Azula strolled over to peer between the rusty bars that held the Dragon of the West captive. "Hello, Uncle. Surprised to see me?"

Iroh had heard her coming and turned away, facing the wall. "What do you want, Azula?" he asked hoarsely.

"Can't a niece come and visit her uncle in jail?" she derided in her high-pitched, falsely empathetic voice. "I see you have no sense of gratitude. Otherwise you'd be on your knees thanking me that I'm keeping you here, and not sending you home to the Fire Lord to be executed as a traitor."

Iroh glanced up, his expression one of odium. "A traitor to the cause of evil is no traitor at all."

"The cause of evil?" she mocked, twisting one side lock of her hair back into place. "Really, Uncle, you and your proverbs need to stop seeing the world in black and white and take an honest look at reality. I've achieved what you never could - a bloodless victory over the last real threat to Fire Nation rule. I gave Zuko a chance to redeem himself when Father had decided to cut him off forever. I'm letting the earthbenders live in freedom, as long as they declare loyalty to the Fire Nation. I even let you live. That's not evil. That's called leadership."

Iroh shook his head. "It is you who cannot see reality. Once you and my brother have conquered the world, what will you do then? There will be nothing left for you to do but to try to control the lives of every person under your rule, and soon even that will wane and grow tiresome. The unbalanced kind of leadership you offer is known by another name - tyranny - and sooner or later, that kind of rule must always fail."

"We shall see," Azula shrugged indifferently. "In the meantime, think about what I've said. I'll come again soon. Good evening." Her gloat was visible in her walk as she strode back down the passage and left the Dai Li guard outside his cell.

Iroh sighed deeply, staring down at his folded hands. Opening his palms, he studied the lotus tile he held between them. Azula did not know it, but the game was not over. The Dragon of the West still had one card left to play.

ooo LL ooo

The Kyoshi ship sailed through the darkness, the wind and the swell of the sea creaking against the planks. In the shifting shadows, Katara peered worriedly over at Suki, who was recovering on a cot below deck. She had done all she could do for her friend. All that was left to be done was wait and hope.

I've done a lot of that lately, she thought bleakly, thinking of Aang. She tried to picture where he might be now. Her only comfort was knowing that wherever he was, her father would take care of him. Hakoda hadn't survived all those battles against the Fire Nation through sheer luck. He was a brave and clever warrior, and his strength and perserverance were qualities Katara knew could be counted upon. Just keep him safe, Dad… and keep yourself safe, too.

The young waterbender sat back, pulling her knees to her chest. The dark and the quiet were made for brooding. That was the last thing she needed to do. But no matter how hard she fought it, or how many times she tried to forget, her mind continued to wander right back to the same place.

My face… I see.

Katara's azure eyes closed, remembering. She could still feel the warm skin of Zuko's cheek, the folds of his scar, the heat of his lips beneath her fingers. She could smell the heady fragrance of tea that clung to his clothes. She could even see the hurt in those amber eyes as she walked away from him. Try as she might, she couldn't deny the truth. She had wanted to heal more of him than just his scar.

In that brief space of time when they were imprisoned together, she and Zuko had become… well, she wasn't certain of the right word, but enemy no longer felt right. They had opened up to one another, sharing emotions and memories that were intensely personal and heartfelt. She had yelled at him, accused him; but Zuko's voice had been soft and understanding, his gaze sympathetic. No matter what his actions later, her heart knew with certainty that this was the real Zuko, and the façade that had fooled them all - 'the banished prince cursed to chase the Avatar forever' - was a lie.

"Why, Zuko?" she whispered into the darkness, half in anger, half in sorrow. "I trusted you. Why did you do it?"

In her confusion, memories of Jet came rushing back. Angry tears slid down her cheeks as she remembered the hot, slightly rough kisses Jet had given her, and the sharp sting of betrayal as she was forced to see that he'd lied to her. She was ashamed of how trusting she'd been, even siding with him over her own brother because she wanted so much to believe that Jet could do no wrong. A whole town had nearly been destroyed because love had made her blind and naïve.

Jet may have been misguided, but he had a good heart, her conscience said in his defense. He died trying to help you and Aang. And if Jet could change, maybe there's still hope for Zuko.

"No," Katara argued aloud, vehemently shaking her head. "That's different. Jet did some horrible things, but he would never have hurt me or Aang. He tried to keep us away when he blew up the dam. Zuko tried to… if Iroh hadn't stopped him…" He would have killed us, she finished mentally. And that cold, hard fact brought an end to her uncertainty. Whatever words and feelings had passed between them no longer mattered. His actions had spoken all too clearly. Zuko made his choice. And it wasn't me.

The glow of a candle parted the darkness and grew nearer as Mariko descended into the galley. "Katara, why aren't you asleep? It's almost dawn."

Katara looked up with bleary eyes, hoping it was too dark for Mariko to see that she had been crying. "I wanted to keep an eye on Suki." Instantly she felt even worse. She hadn't checked on Suki for some time now because she'd been brooding, and using her friend's ill health as an excuse seemed the worst kind of dishonesty. She slumped over, hiding her face.

Mariko was struck with a pang of compassion, mistaking Katara's slouching posture for exhaustion. "You shouldn't have to do that alone. I'll help you," she promised faithfully. "Get some rest. You can't help Suki if you're worn out yourself. If anything happens, I'll wake you."

The Kyoshi warrior retrieved a woollen blanket from the hold and laid it over her. Katara cuddled into its warmth, determined to forget her feelings for Zuko and all that had happened over the last few days. I'm not tired, she told herself; but that was a lie, for in no time at all, she was fast asleep.

ooo LL ooo

The masked man tiptoed down the passageway, then glanced furtively to either side. Two Dai Li agents glided past in their green robes, talking in low tones. The intruder held his breath for a moment, waiting until it was safe. Then, with the feline stealth that was practically second nature to him now, he snuck down the long hallway that led to the prisoner's cell.

The Dragon of the West looked up warily. He recognized those footsteps. He would have known them anywhere. "Well, look who it is - the Blue Spirit. I thought I'd seen the last of you."

Removing the mask, a near-identical copy of the one that had sunk to the bottom of Lake Laogai, his nephew's scarred face stared back at him. "There's a tradesman in the Lower Ring who makes these as an anti-Fire Nation novelty item. They're pretty common on the black market."

"I should have known you were the kind of man to wear more than one mask. But I learned that about you too late." Iroh sighed, his face still hidden in the darkness. "You shouldn't have come."

Prince Zuko exhaled roughly. "Uncle, I have to talk to you, and I don't have much time."

Iroh stood and came over to the bars, revealing a face more jaded than it been had in all their years of fruitless searching and exile. The bleary look in his old eyes was a mixture of disappointment and disgust. "I have nothing left to say to you. Every word I've said for the last three years has been useless. Don't waste any more of my time or yours in this dungeon, Prince Zuko. Go back to your sister. The two of you can plot and plan until the whole world is a graveyard for all I care!"

"No!" Zuko said sharply. "Listen to me! I had to do what I did."

"Had to? Azula gave you a choice!"

"What choice, Uncle? Azula knew we had nowhere left to run. It's not like we could hide in the Water Tribe the way we did in the Earth Kingdom. We couldn't have won; not with the Dai Li on her side. At least this way, we stand a chance."

Iroh moaned, throwing up his arms in repugnance. "A chance for what? Thanks to you, the Earth Kingdom, the last formidable threat against the Fire Nation, has been defeated! What can you possibly hope to accomplish that will undo the harm you've already done?"

Zuko leaned forward, pressing his nose between the bars as he gripped them hard. "If my honor gets restored, so does my right to inherit the throne. Once Father accepts me again, I can protect you, and together we can -"

"What? Go back to the Fire Nation? Pretend like none of this ever happened? Do you really think it's that simple?" The old man shook his head. His nephew's naivete about his family and their politics had once been pitiable; now it was almost shameful. "After all you've suffered because of him, I can't believe you still think that my brother is waiting to welcome you home."

Zuko's face twisted into an indignant scowl. "If I can just find the Avatar -"

"No!" Iroh insisted. "It's not about the Avatar. It never has been. I put off telling you for far too long, but it is time you knew the truth."

"What truth, Uncle?" he asked, although he had a bad feeling he already knew the answer.

Retreating into the shadows, Iroh sat on his cell cot and stared grimly at his nephew. "After the Fire Lord banished you, I knew you were in great pain, and not only from your wounds. I couldn't bear to see you succumb to grief and lose all hope for the future. So, I sheltered you. For three years, I let you go on believing that Ozai fully intended for you to capture the Avatar and prove your worth to him. But Zuko, by now you should have realized that that was never the case. He made capturing the Avatar the condition for your return because he considered it an impossible task. Your father set you up to fail."

Zuko's jaw tightened against the idea. "No. You're wrong. That can't be true." When Iroh said nothing, the young man's knuckles clenched white over the cell bars. "Say it isn't true, Uncle. Uncle!"

But Iroh's sad, heavy silence left an uncomfortable void in his nephew's mind and heart. For the first time, Zuko really considered what he hadn't deemed possible before. That the Fire Lord's acceptance could never be earned. That he could never go home. That his father had never loved him, and never would.

If your father wanted you home, he would have let you return by now, Admiral Zhao's words echoed in the scarred prince's mind, Avatar or no Avatar. Zhao wouldn't have been allowed to set the objective of capturing the Avatar for the entire fleet without the Fire Lord's express approval. He'd ignored that fact at the time, not wanting to give up the hope of going home.

You know, Father blames Uncle for the loss at the North Pole, and he considers you a miserable failure for not finding the Avatar. Why would he want you back home except to lock you up where you can no longer embarrass him? The memory of Azula's words made him bristle. She'd declared him and Uncle wanted fugitives in the colonies. Could she really have done that without the Fire Lord's knowledge or consent? He'd wanted to believe her then, when she told him Father regretted his banishment, but Uncle had doubted Azula's truthfulness and been proven right. Zuko knew his sister was a coldhearted liar. Now that he thought about it, why had he believed her yet again, when she'd promised that he'd finally have their father's love?

Because I wanted it to be true, he had to admit to himself. No. I needed it to be true. Because if it was all a lie…

"I have to leave soon," Zuko finally murmured. "Azula is sending me after the Avatar. I'm supposed to be on the ship already."

Iroh sighed dejectedly. "If you still believe the Avatar is the answer to your problems, then you've learned nothing."

"What do you want from me, Uncle? To help the Avatar and become a traitor, with nothing to gain and everything to lose?" Zuko shot back. "I may have changed, but that doesn't make me stupid. There's a time to fight hard, and there's a time to fight smart. You taught me that. If we can't take Azula down by force, and face it, we can't - the only way to get out of this is to beat her at her own game."

For the first time, his uncle relaxed an iota. "And just precisely how do you plan to do that?"

Zuko sighed, his voice almost inaudible as he said the words Iroh never thought he would live to hear. "I need your help."

ooo LL ooo

Bato stood on the deck, breathing in the fresh, salty sea air. He glanced over at the starboard rail, where the Earth King's wiry body hung doubled over along the side. Keuei's thin hands were clutched on for dear life, his knuckles turned almost white.

"First time at sea?" Bato inquired sympathetically.

"First time on a boat," the Earth King groaned as his stomach gave an audible growl. He turned round to face Bato, his face as green as his robes. "I've had a lot of scary firsts recently, but this one has got to be the worst. Hmmph!" And he whirled back and retched again.

Bato shook his head, then saw Hakoda coming towards him.

"How's our royal passenger settling in?" the Southern Tribe chief wondered.

Bato made a face. "Do you really want to know?" He thumbed to the side of the ship, where the Earth King was still reeling.

"I guess it's lucky he wasn't born into the Water Tribe," Hakoda joked, not seeing Bato roll his eyes. "So how's the Avatar?"

"He's still unconscious, but every so often, he gets restless and murmurs to himself in his sleep. That must have been some battle at Ba Sing Se."

Hakoda nodded thoughtfully, remembering how haggard his children had looked. "Yes, I think it must have been."

"He…" Bato paused. "Earlier, I thought I heard him asking for Katara. I think she's made quite an impression on him."

"I see." Hakoda smiled softly. He had a feeling that was the case. "She's grown up so much, Bato. I almost didn't recognize her."

"I wish you could have been there when I took them ice dodging," Bato replied. "Your children would have made you proud."

"They already do." The chief patted a hand against his friend's back, then went to man the jib.

ooo LL ooo

Aang was in the swamp, surrounded by muddy water and twisting, strangling vines. A mist rose from the marsh floor, the smell of it almost intolerable.

"Katara!" he shouted. "Katara, where are you?"

There was a flash of black hair as a girl raced away from him and into the trees. Gasping with the thought that it might be Katara, Aang was quick to pursue her. "Wait! Come back!"

Aang chased the girl, weaving in and out of the tangle of overgrowth and splashing through the thick puddles at his feet. Each time he'd get close to her she would just elude his grasp, laughing and going out of sight again. At last he paused, out of breath. "All right, fine, I give up! What do you want from me?"

"Aang, I'm right here."

Aang turned to see Katara standing before him, wearing the flower necklace he'd woven for her from the fishing line. "Katara?"

"Close your eyes, Aang." When he hesitated, she smiled. "Trust me."

"I do trust you, Katara." Aang's eyes fluttered shut. His heart rushed as he could feel the girl coming closer, smell the sweetness of her breath, feel her lips brush his own with the most tender kiss he could have imagined. As she pulled back, Aang opened his eyes only to jump back in surprise. Katara no longer stood before him, but Toph in her place, wearing the dress he had seen when he'd encountered her in the swamp. "Toph!"

"That's right, Twinkletoes," she smirked, folding her arms, "it's been me all along."

"What are you talking about?" Aang demanded, angry to think that Katara had tricked him into kissing Toph, and even angrier to see that Toph didn't seem to mind. Had they planned this together?

"You know how the swamp works," Toph replied easily. "It shows you people you love."

"I love Katara," Aang said angrily.

"Then why did you see me here before?" Toph asked then. "Why did you chase me? You and Katara were separated then, but you forgot about her long enough to run after me. Or had you forgotten?"

He had. Aang felt faint and a little sick. "You're right. I did."

Toph's visage faded from before him and left him alone, the screaming cry of a bird echoing like a warning in his ears.

ooo LL ooo

Zuko stood on the prow of the Fire Navy ship, gazing out at the sunset. He had never watched one like this. Transfixed, he stared as the red and gold colors of daylight gave way to the violet and blue of night. Red and blue. Sun and moon. Fire and water. The hues faded into one another at the horizon, creating a scene of such poetic tranquility that Zuko found it hard to look away.

All his life, he'd been taught that fire was a separate element, superior to the others. Now he was seeing, for the first time in his life, the beauty of two opposing elements coming together as one. Gazing with wonder at the place where the sun met the ocean, Zuko couldn't help but wonder if it worked that way with people, too.

You rise with the moon. I rise with the sun.

Zuko exhaled roughly. He had long since realized that forgetting the girl would be difficult. Now, he was beginning to believe it was impossible. If we catch up with them… if she's there… Bitterly, he squinted his eyes shut. Of course she'll be there. She wouldn't leave the Avatar for anything. Or anyone.

It felt strange that he should be here like this, his disheveled hair flowing with the wind instead of his prince's lock, Mai at his side instead of Uncle Iroh. He glanced down at her long shadow as he addressed her. "Did you give the helmsman our course?"

"We're heading east, to Kyoshi Island," Mai intoned dully.

"Good. The battalion at Kyoshi should be able to help us track them down." Zuko felt Mai studying him with her silent gaze. He tried his best to ignore it. He wondered how she'd feel if she knew that Azula was using her, just like she had used him. "If we find the Avatar and his friends, we will take them alive. Understood?"

"Yeah, sure," Mai said flatly. "Whatever you say."

Zuko whirled round, aggravated by her impertinence. "Do you have a problem taking orders?"

Unaffected, she folded her arms. "Obviously not. I spend most of my time with Azula, remember?"

It was an irritating reply, but an honest one. Zuko accepted it with a quick nod before turning to cast one last look back out over the sea. "I'm going to my quarters, not to be disturbed. You should probably get some rest before we get to Kyoshi."

"Kyoshi," Mai sighed after Zuko was gone. "Omashu. Ba Sing Se. These Earth Kingdom places are all the same. I really do loathe my life."