Asuni could have easily lain on that roof and just absorbed the past ten minutes for the rest of the night. Her grandparents… her head spun. But she had a mission to complete, and she wasn't going to let Zuko down. She had to do what good soldiers had done countless times in the past and put her heart in a box and focus on the task at hand.

Asuni slipped over rooftops and dropped into a canal. Water coiled around her legs and carried her aloft on a tiny tornado as she directed herself through the channels and towards the spirit oasis. That was one place her mother had been very clear about when she spoke about her homeland – Aluki had loved the oasis. It was her sanctuary in the North.

Asuni left the canals behind when they could take her no further and returned to the streets. Dawn was starting to creep over the horizon and she knew she had to hurry or Zuko would leave without her. She was sure she could find him again, but she'd already left him alone long enough. She picked up her pace.

Asuni's feet pounded the icy streets as she ran through the Northern city. With every step, faces flashed in her mind. Thump. Her mother. Thump. Her father. Thump. Her grandmother. Thump. Her grandfather. Thump. Zuko. Thump. Zuko. Thump. Zuko. Zuko. Zuko.

Asuni stopped at the distinctive round door that led into the sanctuary. Angry as she was, she respected the spirits, so she took a moment to toss away some of her rage before shoving the door open and stepping inside.

Her eyes widened. It was a gash in the ice. A thin walkway was carved into the ice around the whole place. In the middle, surrounded by water, was a small island where grass grew. A thicket of bamboo grew there as well. Bridges led across the water to the island, and a small pond rested at the foot of an arch. The Avatar sat beside the pond, his tattoos glowing, Katara moving closer to him, but where was Zuko…?

It took only a moment for her to find him. A large jag of ice burst out from the side of the island and crashed up against the ice wall of the chasm. Trapped within the ice was Zuko, his head hanging limply in unconsciousness.

Asuni's eyes fixed on the girl, Katara, as she found a target for her rage. Keeping her footsteps silent, placing her toes down first, Asuni crept along the edge of the room until she reached the bridge. Then she allowed her footsteps to fall heavily, hitting the wood with a thud.

Katara whirled to face her, her eyes flying wide and then narrowing in dislike.

"You," she scowled. "I should have known you were around here too."

"Me," Asuni nodded. She pointed to Zuko. "I'm going to have to pay you back for that. You hurt my prince."

Katara sniffed. "You seem awfully high-and-mighty for just a cook. What are you doing, playing dress-up?" she taunted.

Asuni chuckled and shook her head as she crossed the bridge. "Hardly. Cook was only my cover. I am Lieutenant Asuni of the Royal Guard. You hurt my charge, and unfortunately for you, I'm already angry."

Asuni lashed out, drawing water from around the island and hurling a wave of it at Katara. The girl raised her arms and parted it easily. Asuni narrowed her eyes, noticing that her footwork had gained surety and her motions had smoothed since the last time they fought.

"I heard you found a master," Asuni said as she hurled another wave at Katara, who spun it around herself and sent it back at Asuni in a wide arc.

"Yeah, so you better watch out! I'm not the pushover I used to be!" Katara said proudly. Asuni raised an arm and the barrage of water sprayed out from around her, turning into a magnificent flower of ice.

"A long weekend of true training does not put you on my level," Asuni said shortly. "I was mastering forms before you could even talk, little girl. You might have studied under a master, but I am a master."

Asuni raised both of her arms. A wave roughly the size of Zuko's smaller boat rose up behind her ominously. Katara's eyes widened.

"You wouldn't!" she shouted. "You may be Fire Nation, but you wouldn't destroy this place! This is your home!"

Asuni scowled. "As it happens, you're right, I wouldn't destroy this place, but for different reasons than you might think. That doesn't stop me from destroying you, though," she said. The wave behind her began to lose some of its mass, turning into something less suited for taking out an island and more suited for taking out a single person.

"Asuni, move!"

Asuni heard the shout and recognized the voice. Without a thought she dropped flat to the ground, letting the water coil over her and turn to ice. Zuko, bathed in the light of dawn and free from the ice, hit her slide and shot towards Katara, a punch of fire preceding him. The girl was so surprised she didn't have the time to raise a true defense. The fire struck her and sent her flying back into a post of the arch.

Zuko smirked as Asuni uncurled herself from inside of the ice. She raised her hands like a conductor and all of the ice from both fights turned back to water and seeped into the channel around the island.

"You rise with the moon," Zuko said, gripping the Avatar by the back of his collar. "I rise with the sun," he spat at Katara as the girl lapsed into unconsciousness. He turned to Asuni. "There was another girl with her, she ran to get help when I arrived. We need to hurry."

Asuni nodded, but inside she was panicking. Zuko had the Avatar in his grasp, literally. What could she do now? She couldn't tell Zuko to let him go, that wouldn't work at all. And she wouldn't fight Zuko to let the Avatar get free. So if she couldn't get Zuko to let the Avatar go, then she could just let Zuko take him and not really try to stop the Avatar when he inevitably made a break for freedom.

"There," Asuni said, pointing to a waterfall that made up the back of the chasm. "I can carry us to the top and into the tundra. We can find shelter and wait until it's safe, then steal a boat and make our way back to the Fire Nation.

Zuko nodded, gathering the Avatar onto his back and tying the boy's hands in front of him. Asuni iced a path for them over to the base of the waterfall and spun around, her arms flying up. A flat platform shot out of the waterfall. Asuni gestured for Zuko to get on, and then followed him aboard. She lifted her arms and they shot up, the waterfall spraying out around them as their ice board fought the current, grinding its way up. When they reached the top it was an easy jump over to the side.

"Which way?" Zuko asked, pulling up his hood and the collar over his mouth. The wind was even more biting up above the city proper and without any walls to block it, it cut through them like knives. Asuni shuddered, her eyes going dry as she peered into the snow storm around them.

"I think I see something that way," Asuni said, pointing at a spike in the distance. "It's a windbreak if nothing else, and I should be able to carve a cave in it and get us out of the cold for a little bit.

Zuko nodded and took off in the direction she'd pointed. He barely got two steps before she stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Let me take the Avatar," she requested. "You've just been in a fight, you don't need to be carting a kid around too."

Zuko's eyes narrowed. "I can do both," he growled. "I'm not an invalid."

"No, but you are cold," Asuni countered, pointing out the faint shudders that were racking his spine. Zuko raised his body heat in response and gave her a pointed look through the steam he let off.

"Maybe, but I can do something about it. You can't," he countered as Asuni gave her own shiver. Asuni's eyes went flat and she replied blandly, "I'm not as important as you."

Zuko blinked. He hadn't seen her look like that in a long, long time. Something had happened, something bad, while she was away from him.

"You're not carrying him," Zuko said firmly, and started walking. He heard Asuni make a sound of annoyance, but her feet began to crouch through the snow along with his. They had to bend to fight against the wind and it stole his breath. He tried to focus on something else, and biggest thing in his mind was what could have possibly happened to Asuni.

He couldn't imagine what it was, considering she hadn't been gone all that long, an hour at most. Had it been like in the South Pole? Had someone seen her and called her a traitor? No, that didn't bother her all that much, certainly not enough for her to still have it on her mind when there was something to be done. Asuni was good at compartmentalizing to make sure everything that needed to be done was done.

He glanced at her sideways and was disturbed to see her eyes fixed on the ground, her expression torn between rage and sorrow. His stomach twisted – he didn't like seeing that kind of expression on her face. It was wrong. Asuni should be smiling; she was always smiling. Had something happened to that kid she'd picked up, then. And why was that face she was making turning his stomach into a pretzel?

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked gruffly, trying not to sound as affected as he was.

Asuni glanced up at him, blue eyes sad, and shook her head. "It's nothing, my prince, not important."

Zuko flinched slightly. She'd called him Zuko earlier but now she'd reverted back to the dutiful 'my prince.' Asuni was squashing all personal connections out of her head at the moment, and that was definitely not a good sign.

"If it was nothing, you wouldn't be so concerned about it," Zuko countered. "If it was nothing, you'd be calling me Zuko."

Asuni flinched at that and he knew he had her. Her shoulders slumped wearily and she stopped in the snow, tilting her head back and closing her eyes. Zuko paused in his trek as well, stopping to look at her. White and red fabric twisted and writhed in the wind around her. She looked like some kind of wild snow spirit standing there with flakes dancing around her and the wind pulling her clothes.

"I met my grandparents."

Her voice was so quiet the wind nearly snatched it away, but Zuko still heard. His eyes widened.

"You found them? When? How?"

It was unlikely, finding the two people she might have been interested in seeing in a city that size – particularly with all the chaos that was going on at the time. But he couldn't imagine how Asuni must have been taking it. He knew a little about why her mother had left the North Pole and knew it had a lot to do with Asuni's grandparents.

"What happened?" Zuko asked.

"They were with Kallik's mother, trying to comfort her. They thought I was my mother. Should have seen their faces," Asuni said with a humorless smile. "I told them that no, I was not Aluki, she was dead. I told them she died in the Fire Nation. Kallik remembered your name and they recognized you as the prince. They were horrified. Even more so when I pulled out one of the spiritual scrolls my mother stole when she left and they realized who I was."

Zuko didn't know quite what to say, so he just released one hand's grip on the Avatar and put his hand out. He was going to rest it on her shoulder, give a comforting squeeze to it like his uncle had done for him more times that he could count. But his hand twisted at the last second, seemingly without conscious thought, and cupped her chilled cheek.

"I'm sorry," Zuko said, his voice rougher than he intended. He was surprised when Asuni pressed her cheek into his palm, nuzzling closer to it.

"Thank you," she breathed, and her breath tickled his wrist. Hastily, Zuko jerked his hand back, warmth lingering on his skin.

"It's nothing. We need to keep moving," he said sharply, turning away and regaining his grip on the Avatar. But his hand was still tingling as Asuni fell in step beside him, and his spirits lifted to see her looking a little happier.

It took them nearly an hour of fighting the wind to reach the jag Asuni had seen in the landscape. It was a massive spike of ice that jutted out of the tundra, a few rocks frozen inside of it. Probably a piece of a glacier that had broken off and floated around under it was frozen in place. It was a solid mass though, and Asuni had to raise her arms and work for several minutes to carve a deep enough cave for them to settle in for the time being.

Asuni entered first, dragging her hand along the ice wall and smoothing out some of the edges. Zuko followed, dropping the Avatar to the floor and untying his hands. He re-tied them behind the boy's back and then straightened up, looking around.

He spotted Asuni, huddled against one of the walls and trembling slightly, her hands tucked into her armpits for warmth. She was wearing just as many layers as he was, but she didn't have the advantage of his inner fire. The cold had to be taking more of a toll on her than it did on him.

Zuko spotted one of the random rocks that had been stuck inside of the piece of ice. Asuni, unable to move it, had simply turned the ice around it to water and let it drop. He turned and punched, bathing it in fire until it glowed a cherry red and gave off a soft wave of warmth.

"Thank you," Asuni said softly, moving closer to the glowing stone. She crouched down, holding her hands as close to the burning stone as she could stand and closed her eyes as feeling returned to her fingers in the form of painful prickles. Behind her, she heard Zuko settle himself down and blow a blast of fire, probably warming himself.

"So I finally have you," Zuko mused aloud. Asuni glanced over her shoulder and found Zuko staring intently at the Avatar, who was still locked in the Avatar State. "But I can't get you home because of this blizzard. Not that you would understand. You're like my sister," Zuko said, frustration leaking into his voice as he rose. Zuko moved to the opening, staring out into the frozen wasteland around him.

Asuni watched, frozen in her half-crouched twist. Her cold fingers were suddenly the least of her worries as she watched the prince for once show some of what he carried in his heart.

"Everything always came easy to her," Zuko continued, the wind almost snatching away his voice. "She's a Firebending prodigy and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky, and he said I was lucky to be born.

"I don't need luck though. I don't want it. I've always had to struggle and fight and that's made me strong. It's made me who I am."

Zuko reared back as the opening in front of him suddenly closed, a thin pane of ice covering it and cutting off the wind. He turned around and found Asuni, still in that awkward position, backlit in red by the burning stone and with one hand still outstretched from her bending.

"Those people who you say adore your sister…" Asuni said softly. "They adore her title. They adore her power. They adore what she can do for them. They do not adore your sister. I know, I've met her, I've heard people whisper when they think no one can hear but a stupid kitchen girl. Azula is a tyrant, ruthless, and those who know her know it. They do not adore her – they fear her."

Zuko's eyes widened as Asuni straightened out of her crouch and turned fully to face him. Her blue eyes burned in the dimness of the cave, the light from outside muted and turned bluish green by the ice.

"When you saw a little servant girl carrying water, her reaction was to throw a fireball at her, to hurt her, to embarrass her. When you saw a little servant girl carrying water have a fireball thrown at her, your first reaction was to help her up, to make sure she was alright. The people will fear your sister, Zuko, but they will love you."

Zuko's breath caught as he stared at her. He knew that Asuni had a way with words, a way of saying things that struck deeply and lodged inside of you, but he'd never seen it used more effectively. He was struck dumb by the faith she had in him, and even more than that, by the obvious disdain she held for the sister he had always seen people hail as superior.

Asuni was respectful in the extreme with people who held titles and who were her superiors. By all right, she should have been calling his sister Princess Azula. Never once had he heard her strip a person of their proper title, show them any less than the utmost respect. That was when Zuko realized just how much Asuni hated his sister.

It bowled him over, that as much as she cared for him, she disliked his sister in equal measure. It was what he'd wanted since he was a child, for someone to turn their backs on Azula in favor of him. But back then, he'd never have dreamed it would be a Lieutenant of the Royal Guard, that it would be someone who…

Who meant so much to him.

"Thank you, Asuni," Zuko said, his voice coming out raspier than he intended. He was glad for the dim light. It hid his flushed cheeks. She smiled back and dipped her head politely.

"Anytime, Zuko, she murmured in reply.

A silence hung in the cave, a silence that was poised, waiting to be broken. Asuni and Zuko stood, each probing the other with their eyes, waiting for the other tto be the first one to shatter that silence.

It was neither of them. It was the Avatar. The glow faded from his tattoos and he straightened up, looking around in surprise as he tugged against the ropes.

"Welcome back," Zuko said coolly. This was easy, this was familiar. This he could do.

The Avatar narrowed his eyes. "Good to be back."

He took a deep breath and blew it out. The air connected with Asuni, blasting her back into the wall. The Avatar shot backwards. He connected with Zuko's legs and sent the prince sprawling, smashed through the ice, and landed with the fwump in the snow outside.

"That was pointless," Asuni grunted as she picked herself up from the ground. Zuko was already outside, the Avatar's collar held in a firm grip.

"Appa!" The Avatar cried suddenly, and Asuni's eyes widened as a huge shadow crossed the figures in the snow. She darted forward as the flying bison landed.

"Here for a rematch?" Zuko snarled at Katara as she leaped down.

"Trust me Zuko, it won't be much of a match," Katara said darkly.

"You're right, it won't," Asuni agreed, darting out of the cave and approaching the fight. She heard a large inhale to her left and raised her hand, making a wall of ice. The Avatar's blast of wind connected with the ice and burst against it harmlessly. As Zuko threw his first punch, Asuni lowered the wall.

"Fool me one," Asuni said to the Avatar as Katara deflected the fireball. She turned just in time to see a ridge of ice moving towards Zuko. Asuni flung out her arms and her own ridge of ice met Katara's. The two techniques collided and shot deadly-sharp icicles into the air. Asuni quickly grabbed Zuko's shoulder and yanked him out of the path of one.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Asuni said as she stepped forward, taking a stance across from Katara, whose eyes narrowed.

"I'm getting really tired of you," Katara said irritably, taking her own stance.

"I was about to say the same about you," Asuni replied with a smirk. She rolled her arms and lashed water at Katara. The girl blocked and sent it skidding towards Asuni's feet, turning it to ice to try and make her slip. Asuni leaped easily over it, flipped once, and landed a few feet away from where she stood. She turned a full circle and thrust her hands out, the heels of her palms pressed together. A barrage of icicles popped out of the ground and fired themselves at Katara.

Katara raised a shield of water. The icicles hit the water and melted, merging seamlessly with the shield. The water rose and spread into a wave that rolled towards Asuni. Asuni stepped forwards and pressed her fingertips together, crouching and touched her fingers to the ground. It was a Firebending move, but it could be used by anyone. The wave split around Asuni, passing harmlessly over her. Asuni straightened up and shook her head.

"You're just throwing blasts at me," Asuni scolded Katara. "You say you have a master? He should be teaching you to refine your techniques. You're like an Earthbender chucking boulders."

"Oh yeah? How's this for subtle?" Katara flicked her wrists and a coil of water rose up at Asuni's feet, reaching for her ankles to try and tie them together. Asuni jumped up, flipped, and brought the heel of her foot down on the thread of water, splashing it into nothing.

"Still not good enough," Asuni said, frustration rising up and gripping her. "How are you going to protect the Avatar if this is all you can do? How are you going to protect your brother?" she shouted across the battlefield.

Katara's eyes widened and she took a step back in surprise. She was familiar with this opponent, the cook – lieutenant? – who was always getting between them and Zuko. She'd seen her angry, cold, and violent, but never… annoyed?

"What do you care?" Katara snapped as she swept at arm through the air and flung a wave of snow at Asuni, annoyed when she realized that she was indeed doing what Asuni had called her out for.

"Because we're doing the same thing, you idiot!" Asuni snapped, swirling on one foot and using the other to carelessly kick the wave off course where it froze several feet away. She leaned back, flicking up one foot, and a line of jagged shards shot towards Katara, who had to leap out of the way.

"We're trying to protect those we care about from the battles to come!" Asuni hurled the words like they were an attack. "I can do it, I've been trained almost since birth to do it, but you can't! You, for some reason, think a little bit of proper training makes you qualified to be a defender, and that kind of overconfidence will get you killed. Worse, it'll get those you're trying to protect killed. You think you're ready for battle, but you have no idea what battles are."

"You think I don't know what war is?" Katara demanded furiously. "My father left when I was twelve to go fight, and I haven't seen him since! The Fire Nation killed my mother looking for Waterbenders!"

Asuni shook her head. "That's not battle. That's war. That's the overall, that's not the day to day. Battle is bloody, battle is violent. Battle is the smell of flesh burning and the screams of people dying and the sound of chokes as water fills their lungs. Battle is a scream being cut off by stone closing over them. Battle is body parts coming free and slipping in blood because it's turned the dirt into mud."

All eyes were on Asuni. The Avatar was on his feet, watching with a sick feeling in his stomach as she shouted at Katara, Sokka frozen by his side. Sickened, because he knew she was right. He had to get stronger, Katara had to get stronger, they all did. Because whether he liked it or not, he would have to face battle, real battle, if he ever wanted to defeat the Fire Lord.

Zuko stared at Asuni. He knew she'd fought, he even, in the back of his head, knew she'd killed even though she'd never confirmed it. But he'd never seen this side of her, the side that was pure warrior, that accepted loss of life and limb like it was a fact of life. It was… unnerving. Darker.

It was when Aang saw Asuni uncurl her chain whip and prepare to lash it at Katara that he panicked. He swung his arms around and shot a blast of air at her. Asuni turned at the sound of rushing air and raised her arms, but there was no time to raise a real barrier. The air connected with her and sent her flying.

Zuko stared down as she landed with a thump at his feet, curled into a loose fetal position, eyes closed, unconscious. Just like that, she was back to seeming small and unassuming instead of the dangerous soldier screaming about battle she'd been moments before. He crouched down next to her, examining her carefully for any serious injuries.

He could hear the Avatar and his friends moving for the bison, knew they were getting away. Instinct had his legs trembling with the desire to lunge after them and haul the Avatar back, but something made him stay by Asuni's side, carefully feeling the back of her head for any sign of blood.

"If we leave them, they'll die!"

Zuko looked up as he heard the Avatar's shout. He was sliding off his bison and approaching them cautiously.

"We can… we can give you a ride back to the Northern Tribe," he offered with big, innocent grey eyes. Zuko wanted to grab him and run, to abandon Asuni in the snow and head for the Fire Nation with his prize. But then his fingers brushed something hot and sticky at the back of her head. Blood. He felt sick for even thinking about leaving her when she'd given so much for him.

Wordlessly, Zuko stood and gathered Asuni into his arms. She was small, but she was heavier than he had expected. He looked down at her and felt the corner of his lips twitch. He wondered how much of that weight was weapons, how much was armor, and how much was muscle.

The Avatar flung him into the air with a wave of his hands and Zuko landed in the saddle on the back of the bison, Asuni tucked to his chest protectively. He stared suspiciously at the two Water Tribe peasants and the Northern princess. She was tucked protectively against the peasant's chest.

"Yeah, this makes sense," he said sarcastically. "Let's bring the couple that's always trying to kill us."

"Bandages," Zuko said in reply, looking them all over. "Do you have any?"

"In the bag," Aang called from where he was perched on the bison's head. He jerked his head in the direction of a bag strapped to the saddle. "She's a lieutenant, right?"

Zuko paused in reaching for the bag and looked back at him sharply. "How do you know that?"

Aang grinned cheekily. "Royal Guard. I had a friend who was one, back in my day. He told me about it. His name was Kuzon."

"Wait, you mean that bedtime story about the Fire Nation thugs who come and kill you if you don't eat your stewed sea plums?" Sokka laughed. "Seriously?"

Zuko narrowed his eyes as he dug out the bandages. "Try a covert police force that operates in every country for the betterment of the Fire Nation. All of them highly-trained in combat, stealth, and politics."

Sokka paled slightly. "Why do you even have that?"

Aang chuckled. "Technically, they don't. They were disbanded even before my time, but they kept working."

Zuko began wrapping Asuni's head. The cut was small and he knew that she could heal it in a second were she not unconscious. But it made him feel useful, like for once he was taking care of her instead f the other way around.

"So she's… your bodyguard?" the princess asked uncertainly. Zuko looked up at her, then down at Asuni.

"…Something like that," he admitted. But bodyguard was far too simple a word for everything Asuni was. She was his friend. She was his cook. She was his sparring partner and his first choice late-night tea-drinking conversation. She was his protector and she was the one who prodded him out of his comfort zone.

She was Asuni.

This chapter kind of got away from me there at the end. Suddenly Asuni was going all 'you don't know what you're doing' and Zuko was thinking deep thoughts and she was knocked out instead of Zuko and.. yeah. I'm okay with how it came out though.

Ooh, before I go! I want to plug a story for a friend of mine. If you're a fan of DracoXOC or Harry Potter fanfics in general, go check out To Be a Slytherin by my friend Morgana Deryn please? She's a great writer and she just uploaded a new chapter last night that I proofread for her. Go give her some love? She really deserves it!