This is the fifth chapter. IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW: This makes reference to the cartoon, where Toph and Iroh talked up on the cliff. It also puts Iroh, Katara, Aang, and Toph in the same room together. The reason that they do not recognize Iroh as the uncle of Zuko is because, in this, they have never seen Iroh clearly, and when they did, he was in Fire Nation robes and had his hair up in a ridiculous (FIRE NATION) way. In this, he is wearing green, and his hair is in a more normal style, and he had gotten a tan since coming to Ba Sing Sei. He had also lost a lot a weight due to poverty.

BANDON-MAKES-A-START

For almost a week Sokka had been escaping the guards and leaving off with the street kids that were fast becoming his friends. Almost a week of finding the first really comfortable surroundings since he had left home, and finding them in a warren full of people that he should hate, at that.

Sokka couldn't put into words how he felt when he was running down the tunnels with Memphis or when he was sparring with some of the older kids while the younger ones cheered him on. It was almost intoxicating, getting away from his traveling companions and going to a place where having powers or not didn't matter.

As he lay down for bed, his body aching from a long day helping the Warreners (as he now called them) repair some of the tile in the communal bathhouse, Sokka smiled towards the ceiling, not caring that his friends were whispering about him in the living room.

BANDON-MAKES-A-POV-CHANGE: GAang.

I'm worried about him, you guys," Katara whispered to the others, who shared her feelings, "He's not being like himself lately; he's never gone to such lengths to get away from us before."

Aang nodded, hating the hurt he could hear in Katara's voice, "I know that he likes to go to the cities whenever he can, but this is different. For the past week he's been doing everything that he can to make sure that he can't be followed. He keeps these new friends of his so secret that we have no idea what he's getting himself into!"

Toph nodded, "He's lying, I know that for sure. It's not even like they're good lies. What could be so important that he has to hide it from us? I mean; we're his family!"

Everyone nodded, distress making their faces tight.

"We just have to work harder to follow him, then, and make sure that whatever he's doing, it won't get him into trouble." Katara said, resolve making her voice rise.

Sighing, everyone went to their bed gear, allowing the peace of sleep to sooth their worries.

Aang had barely closed his eyes when he was dragged into the spirit world, his body left behind in the physical plane. Yelping, he landed on a stone that bruised his spiritual butt. Casting a peeved look around him, searching out the person that had brought him here.

When he didn't see anyone, he grew confused, jumping off of the rock and walking to the edge of a nearby forest, the opening to which was bordered on two sides by high reeds, and on the parallel a clear lake. "Hello?" he called, "Is anyone out there?"

Reeds near him began to shake, and, with his normal stately manner gone, Roku stepped out, his face heavily creased with anxiousness. "We have no time!" he gasped at Aang, hauling the boy into the reeds.

Aang yelped but didn't fight the spirit of his past life, trusting the other Avatar without thought.

"Aang," Roku said urgently, "Time drawls too close and you have yet to discover this for yourself."

Aang opened his mouth to ask what it was that he should have found out, but Roku motioned for silence. "You must understand, Aang, it was not meant for you to awaken as you did. Your part in this war was not to be."

"What do you-?" Aang tried to ask, but Roku clamped a hand over his mouth.

"When you went into that storm, it was your own powers that caused you to capsize, your own feelings making the water turbulent. That being that case, it was against the laws of the Spirit Counsel to have you awaken again, until it was a time of natural selection; until you were meant to. But one of the spirits, I don't know which, pulled the strings of fate from our hands and put that young water tribeswoman so close to you, that made her use her powers, accidentally bringing you back into the play of fate."

Roku paused, straining his ears at some noise that only he could hear. He continued with renewed fervor, his eyes searching the reeds for some sign of duplicity, "It was not to be, your place in this war, and so the spirits combined their powers and made a new avatar, one that would be able to defend the world, but one that we could be sure would not seek the same fate as his father."

"What are you-?" Aang tried to ask, having trouble following his mentor.

"Shush," Roku hissed, "I cannot explain right now; there is no time. You must find this second Avatar, Aang, he is the only one that can save the people that you love the most from certain death, he is the only one that can hope to help you complete your goal. You must find him, Aang; the fate of the world depends upon it."

Aang felt his eyes widen, his thoughts consumed with images of his friends dead; Toph, her strong body broken, Sokka, his pride fallen to the humiliation of death- Katara, her beautiful face contorted with the terror bred only from the end of one's life.

Aang nodded emphatically, "But who is this person, Roku? How will I find-"

"My great grandson, Aang," Roku said, "He is the person that will save you and your friends. If you cannot find him, and convince him to participate in the destruction of the Fire Lord, the world will fall to ruin and the spirits will once again be forced into the horrors of abandoning their peoples."

Aang couldn't understand, the spirit world fading around him as he was forced into his body again. "But Roku," he screamed, "how will I find him?"

Roku said something, but his lips moved in a parody of speech, no sound coming from them.

And Aang woke up, the bright light of dawn shining through the windows near him, his body drenched in sweat. For several seconds he lay there, his heart beating faster than he had ever felt it beat before, until, with a great effort, he jumped us, yelling for his friends to come to him, not caring for his almost nudity.

As Toph and Katara came in, both already fully dressed, he gushed the information at them, not a breath between his words.

Katara and Toph frowned, "Slow down, twinkeltoes." Toph said, "I didn't catch any of that. Repeat it all again, with a couple of break in between sentences, okay?"

Aang couldn't breathe as he stared at them, last night's message ringing in his ears. "Roku summoned me in my dream," he explained, "He told me that the spirits created another Avatar, one to take my place."

Katara frowned, "How can they do that? I thought only one Avatar was allowed in the physical world at any given time. But beyond that, didn't they see that you would awaken?"

Aang shook his head, remembering the urgency of Roku's message, "The Spirits couldn't intervene, since it was my emotions that caused the storm that forced me into the ice. The Spirit's counsel forbade anyone to do anything that would free me before the appointed time, and Roku didn't specify, but I think that that time was probably long after the world would have been destroyed by Ozai."

"So they created another you?" Toph asked, skeptical, "I don't see how that's any better than freeing you from the ice. Wouldn't it have been more dangerous to have someone outside of the Avatar circle given powers like that?"

Aang nodded, having had the same thoughts, "But they did, they made a person that could protect the world, they gave him powers like mine. Roku said that I have to find him, or we are all going to die."

He looked at Katara, his heart heavy with despair, "He said that if we can't find this person, then the world would end and everything that we fought for would be undone, and then the spirits would have to abandon their people."

Aang paused, "Roku said that this had happened before," Aang looked at Katara, then Toph, hoping that they would know something about it, but they both shrugged, looking confused, "Roku said that this person would need to be persuaded to help us take down the Fire Lord, that he wouldn't do it otherwise."

Katara frowned, "But why wouldn't this person, whoever it is, want to help take down a tyrant?"

Aang shook his head, shrugging, "Roku didn't say, he only told me that this person was his great grandson."

Toph made a noise of aggravation, "I wish we could have learned about this, you know, sooner. The comet is only two months away, and we still have to train you, much less some little brat with a god-complex."

Aang just sighed in aggravation, noticing for the first time that Sokka wasn't there to hear this message, "Where's Sokka?" he asked.

Katara's eyes watered and she passed him a note, "I found this when I went into his room this morning."

Aang read the hastily scribbled note, and felt ill. "He's left?" he gasped, unable to think of why their friend would desert them.

Katara sniffed, "It says that it's only for a little while, but I just can't think that he'd leave us without telling us where he was going!" Toph rubbed her back awkwardly, "It'll be fine!" The blind girl told her with false enthusiasm. "He just needs some guy time, that's all. You know how men get; they always need to be doing something. We just have to wait for him to come to his senses and then we can kick his butt when he gets back!"

Katara smiled slightly, worries making her look older than she was.

Aang laughed overly loudly, "I know!" he said, "I heard some of the people in the street talking about some great tea shop in town. They said that they have the best brews in all of Ba Sing Sei. Would should go there, have a nice time. Who knows, Sokka might be there, and we can beat him then."

Katara smiled at him, nodding her head. Toph stuck out her tongue, her dislike of tea one of the things that kept her in the house, away from the many tea selling shops and stands in Ba Sing Sei. "I don't know," she said, "What about finding this grand whatever? Don't you think that we should do that instead?"

Aang sighed, "I hope that we can ask a few people when we're out. I didn't know that Roku had even had a child; normally the power of the Avatar can't be channeled through a baby."

Katara and Toph looked confused, "What does that mean?" Katara asked.

Aang shrugged, "Avatar's are really powerful. If an Avatar happens to get pregnant, or get someone else pregnant, the baby dies in the womb, or shortly after, from the amount of bending power that they are born with."

"What if the baby that came out didn't have powers? Would it survive then?" Toph asked.

Aang shrugged, "If it came out without powers, it would be just like a normal baby. But the chances of it not having powers are so slim as to be unreal. Bending ability travels through the parents, so if the parent was an Avatar, then that baby would have the original power of the Avatar, in Roku's case, fire. But the bending would be so great that the power could consume the mother, and often consumes the baby shortly after birth. Most Avatars' don't even take that risk. "

Katara felt sick. "So the person that we're going after in a natural born fire bender who doesn't want to help us take down the fire nation? How in the world are we supposed to do this, Aang? Did Roku even tell you where this person is, or how to persuade him?"

Aang sighed, realizing how hard this task was going to be, "He tried, but I think the other spirits cast me out. I don't think that Roku was supposed to tell me about any of this. I hope that he's not in trouble."

Katara and Toph looked worried, "Well," Toph said, "The only thing that we can do is try to look for this guy, and hope that he doesn't kill us for our efforts."

Katara and Aang agreed, and they all got ready to head out on the city, their hearts heavy at the thought of doing so without Sokka.

BANDON-MAKES-A-POV-CHANGE: Iroh.

Iroh sighed as he pulled out his favorite tea blend; Things had been going very well, so far, what with people giving larger tips than usual whenever they found out about Zuko, but it had still been a very long morning, with more people than usual buying things.

Taking a deep drink, he turned as the door opened, the bells above it chiming. The contents of his cup fell to the floor as he choked on his jasmine, staring purple faced at the Avatar and his friends, who had just blithely walked into his shop.

The sightless girl that he had helped so long before looked in his direction and smiled, running over to pat him on the back while laughing. "Hey there, Grandpa! I'm glad that you made it to Ba Sing Sei!"

Iroh smiled through tears as her harsh pounding nearly sent him to the floor. "And I am glad to see you, as well, little one. Are these the friends that you had spoken of?"

The girl nodded, "Yeah," she said, pointing to the dark skinned beauty, "This is Katara." She pointed at the young boy next to her, "And this is Aang, the Avatar."

Iroh smiled at them all, "Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon, young ones. Would you care for some tea? Or perhaps a cake or pastry?"

Aang quirked his head to the side, sure that he had seen the old tea vendor before, but unable to recall from where. "How do you do," Aang asked politely, "I would love some tea, thank you. Do you have Ginseng?"

Iroh nodded, smiling at the boy before looking at the two girls, "I would like Jasmine," Katara said, "And a small coffee cake, please."

Iroh nodded, "And you, Toph?"

Toph stuck her tongue out, "I don't like tea." she said plainly.

Iroh erupted in laughter, "Oh, but you have never tried MY tea, though."

Toph shrugged, "All tea is bad tea, as far as I'm concerned. I'll take some hot water with lemon, if you can, though, and a large slice of cake."

Iroh nodded, chuckling, "And what kind of cake would you like, Toph? We have coffee, cheese, red velvet, vanilla, or strawberry."

Toph shrugged, "You pick; I eat them all. Whichever you think tastes best."

"Ah," Iroh said, bowing towards Toph in mock difference, "To be trusted with choosing the cake of one such as you is a great honor."

Toph laughed, "You're so funny, Grandpa."

Iroh smiled, having always imagined having a houseful of grand children and great grandchildren.

Toph frowned, "Why are you sad, Grandpa?"

Iroh sighed, "For many reason, young one," Iroh set several pots on the stove, heating them, "My nephew, the one I spoke with you about, has been wounded greatly in a mugging. I am very worried about his recovery thus far. He is strong, but . . ."

Toph frowned, patting the old man on the arm. "I'm sure with someone like you to look after him, he'll be alright."

"Did you report the attack to the guards?" Katara asked, always one to follow the letter of the law.

Iroh shook his head, "There is little law in the lower regions of Ba Sing Sei, and they would not care for the worries of a poor old tea vendor with barely enough to provide meager medical care to his only surviving family."

The three children looked sad, but Iroh smiled, urging them to take the cake that he was now offering them. "Such is not your cares, I am sure that all will be fine; Lee is a strong young man, and will survive this like he has survived much worse in the past. He will live long enough to make me a great grand uncle yet!"

Aang, his focus falling to their mission from Roku, placed a hand on the old man's arm, "Would you happen to know," Aang said, "Who Avatar Roku's great grandson is? It's very important."

Iroh looked at the Avatar seriously, harshly, trying to gauge if the boy knew their identity or if his question were innocent. "The Avatar Roku had one child; a daughter, who was a member of the Fire Nation court until her death. Her daughter, Ursa, was a great and kind woman." Iroh paused, considering his next words carefully, "But she was killed by her husband in his bid for power."

Katara and Aang gasped, "What kind of husband could do that to his own wife?"

Iroh shook his head sadly, remember the days before and after Ursa had been killed.

"Her husband was a young man still, with much lust for power. There is much to tell you, but I have a tea shop to run; if you don't mind waiting until I am off of work, I will tell all that I know about the Fire Nation, and the Great Grandson of the proud Avatar Roku.

Everyone nodded, sitting at one of the tables closest to the windows of the shop. Aang beamed around, "See," he said, "something good did come from a tea shop!"

Toph kicked him under the table, making the boy wince.

Katara smiled, "Yeah," she said, "Today has turned out to be okay."

Little did they know that the chances of them getting anywhere near the object of their search was vanishing out of the back door, running to the tiny house where his nephew was still holed up.

BANDON-MAKES-AN-END

This is the fifth chapter in my Ba Sing Sei arc story. Please review.