All previous disclaimers apply. With apologies to Douglas Adams for the title.

Chapter 19: Don't Panic

Riku stumbled out of the Darkness corridor as soon as possible, trying to escape the Dark that seemed to be clinging to him now, taunts and promises he'd thought buried for good whispering through his mind once more. They hadn't been this bad since... since he'd won at Castle Oblivion, binding the echo of Ansem deep within his own heart.

Embracing the promise of daylight, Riku stepped out into a world—and promptly walked into pain and fire.

Caught utterly off-guard, he bit out a curse even as he dodged away, reflexively throwing dark flames towards the source of the attack.

He was rewarded with a masculine yelp, and when his vision cleared, he saw a dark-haired boy in tunic and armguards sprawled at the base of a tree, eyes unfocused.

Riku blinked, trying to figure out what happened, then realized with horror that he'd just attacked someone... and that same someone had seen him come out of a portal. He darted forward, throttling down automatic panic. If he could knock the other boy out properly and be long gone before he awoke, there wouldn't be any awkward questions about how he'd appeared out of nowhere... the secret of other worlds would be safe here, and a headache never killed anyone. Maybe he could do something almost right, for once.

Riku knelt as he reached the tree, Souleater materializing in his waiting hand, and knocked the sword's hilt sharply against the boy's head. Golden eyes slid shut with only a faint sound of protest, and Riku checked to make sure that the boy was only unconscious, only to freeze at the nasty red burn on the left side of his face.

Oh no.

So much for no loose ends. There was no way he could just leave the boy to wake up with an inexplicable injury, especially one that serious. What if it didn't heal properly? This boy would be stuck with it for the rest of his life. He had to get some sort of help, but trying to find a local healer had the potential to be a profoundly bad idea. Again Riku regretted that he was out of potions. He did have plenty of crystals from his travels — maybe he could go back to Twilight Town and have the moogles there synthesize one, and come back and use it before the boy woke up. If he didn't have the right crystals... well, he'd worry about that if it happened. Riku began to straighten — and something struck a glancing blow to the side of his head.

The world lurched, and then there was an impact to his entire left side. Riku blinked, and as the world in front of his face registered wondered muzzily what he was doing lying on the ground, staring at a teapot that was resting incongruously in the grass next to him.

Not to mention why there hadn't been any follow-up attacks from whatever had first hit him.

He was still at a loss when a calm, slightly gravelly voice reached his ears. "I am sorry about that, but would you mind explaining to me what you are doing here and why you just attacked my nephew?"

Riku blinked dazedly, struggling to sit up. "...Nephew? Sorry, didn't want to hurt him, but couldn't afford any questions about—" He stopped dead, adrenaline clearing the fog from his brain too late as his eyes focused on a balding, grey-bearded man sitting comfortably on a rock a short distance away.

The old man regarded him mildly, despite the fact that he'd evidently been there the entire time.

Please let him not have seen me come out of the—

"What was that black thing that appeared right before you did, anyway?" The old man asked in the same conversational tone, showing no signs of discomfiture. "I've never seen such a method of travel before. At least, that's what I assume it was."

—Erk.

Riku froze, staring at the old man. The boy had been bad enough. But this man had obviously had a much better view, and, worse, seemed uncomfortably sharp. He wouldn't just let this go without explanation. And Riku somehow doubted that knocking him out would help in the slightest, should his conscience let him even consider walking over and hitting an elder who hadn't done anything but sit there and talk reasonably.

...Maybe he could still talk his way out of this.

"Have you ever heard of something called magic?" He asked carefully, summoning every bit of control he possessed and ruthlessly quelling his emotional turmoil. Damage control first. Then he could go and get the potion, and then have his breakdown in peace.

The old man regarded him, brows raised slightly. "You're not talking about Bending, are you."

Riku could hear the subtle inflection in the way he pronounced the term, not unlike that with which people who knew about them spoke of Heartless, Nobodies, and Keyblades. He could also hear that it was not a question.

I don't think this is starting off very well.

"...No," he replied carefully, shoving his nerves back down. "It's... a power that's quite rare, in most places. And most of the people who have it try to keep it a secret, because otherwise they can be in danger from those who fear it." He had to tread carefully; he had the distinct feeling that lying to this man would not be a good idea.

"I see," the old man said, with just a hint of sympathy. "I can understand why you might feel that that would be necessary."

Riku let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "That's why I thought that it was important to get away before anyone could ask questions I wouldn't be able to answer. If your nephew was knocked out, he might think what he saw was a dream, and the secret would still be safe." If it weren't for the burn, his conscience reminded him, but he pushed it back to the back of his mind. One crisis at a time. Get through this first.

"Hm." The old man nodded briefly. "I see. So you come from far away?"

"Yes," Riku admitted. There didn't seem to be a way around it.

"Is there any particular reason you risked using this important secret to come here, then? Are you looking for something, maybe?"

Riku hesitated. "...No. Not really. It was more that I needed to... not be where I was." Something inside him trembled, and he forced it still. Not yet. Please, not yet. Just a little longer.

"Ah." The old man tilted his head slightly. "Will there be anyone coming after you by the same means, then?"

Riku blinked. "I think I can safely say that that will not be a problem. Although..." He hesitated for a moment. He'd been right. This man was worryingly quick. But it would only be fair to let him know, since he knew this much already, and there were no guarantees of safety anywhere...

"If you ever do see anyone using the same means to travel, do not stay near them. Get yourself and anyone you can away as fast and far as you can. Especially if they're wearing what I am wearing now."

He looked down at the material of his cloak for a moment, his mind pulling up the echo of his warning to Hakuba from the conversation that had reminded him of Sora in the first place—No! Don't think about that. Not yet!

"It's interesting you should mention that," the old man said, still in that innocently conversational tone. "I've never seen clothing like that before, even though I have spent years traveling the world from pole to pole. Nor have I ever run across anyone with a power like yours before, or even heard any mention of such a thing from any texts or sages."

Suddenly not at all innocent or casual, the old man's intense gaze pinned Riku consideringly. "There is dark skin among the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom, though it is rare to see a shade as dark as yours. And while it is rarer still for young people to have white hair, there are occasional stories. But eyes of your color are found only among the royal family of the Fire Nation... which I know for a fact that you do not belong to. There has never been any record of anyone with all of those features together. And yet you do not seem concerned others might find your appearance strange. Just how far away are you from, exactly?"

Riku couldn't breathe.

He'd messed it up again. First Kaito, who'd almost died due to his failure to pay attention, then Hakuba, whose mind and nerves he'd scorched raw, now this boy who he'd attacked for nothing worse than being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and he'd failed, failed utterly to keep the existence of the other worlds secret in a simple conversation, right after he'd managed to single-handedly destroy any chance of ever being able to talk to Sora again—

No—

It was all too much at once, and everything he'd tried to suppress until later slammed back into him, his mind whiting out for a moment of sheer howling anguish. He'd been given back hope against all reason only for his own actions to put it wholly beyond his reach.

Riku became distantly aware that his breathing was fast, and far too shallow, and even when he tried to force himself back under control he couldn't stop gasping for air he just couldn't get enough of, even when it was letting this stranger see that he was vulnerable...

"If it is any help," the old man's voice, suddenly filled with undertones of concern and iron and nothing of the laziness that it had held before, cut through the ringing he hadn't even realized was filling his ears, "you have my word that I will not speak of any of this without your permission."

Thoughts still in a disjointed whirl, Riku grasped almost desperately onto the solidity of the uncompromising honor in that promise. Not everything was lost just yet. The man might not be an enemy. He hadn't failed completely. He hadn't. There was still a chance...

Something hitched in his throat, and he doubled over, coughing violently. But after the fit passed he could breathe again, steadily if still slightly ragged. When Riku could lift his gaze again, the old man was still watching him. After a moment, he shook his head and sighed, and his expression softened. "You can call me Mushi," he said gently, giving a reassuring smile. "Come on, sit over here, have some tea, and tell me what's wrong, and maybe we can work something out, hmm?"

It took a moment for Riku to remember how to stand up, but he slowly got to his feet.

"Oh, and bring the teapot with you," Mushi added.

Riku stared blankly at the teapot at his feet for a moment before bending to pick it up and carry it over to Mushi. The old man took it graciously, smiling a little to find that the top had stayed latched on and it was still mostly full of water. Watching him, it occurred to Riku that Mushi was really rather like Solomon.

What was it about wise old men and tea, anyway?

It wasn't until he noticed the concern in Mushi's eyes that Riku noticed himself laughing without intent or reason, and that he couldn't stop. He was vaguely aware of Mushi guiding him to sit down on the rock, and the sudden pressure when the old man took hold of his shoulder where it would not be threatening or invasive, and he absently wondered if Mushi was accustomed to dealing with defensive teenagers. The thought seemed absurdly funny, and he kept laughing as the old man simply sat beside him in silent reminder that he wasn't alone. Riku clung to the sensation of his firm grip like a lifeline against the sudden drowning sense of unreality.

He had no idea how much time passed before the laughter eventually died away, but it finally trailed off into a final broken chuckle, leaving him exhausted and cold and shivering slightly despite the afternoon sun.

Mushi seemed as entirely unruffled as he had been when Riku had first seen him. "Better?" He asked gently, and when Riku nodded, the old man handed him a cup of hot tea. Riku smiled at the gesture, thankfully feeling no urge toward another fit of laughter. He was grateful for the cup's warmth as he cradled it in his hands, even more so when the old man's kind but firm gaze compelled him to actually drink it.

"...Thank you," he managed, after a few more minutes.

Mushi smiled. "You're quite welcome, young man." He studied Riku face for a few moments, then added, "When you feel up to talking, I have it on good authority that simply relating one's situation can help put things into their proper perspective."

Riku tensed slightly out of reflex, then forced himself to relax. Mushi had already promised to not say anything, and absurdly enough, he believed him. The old man already knew enough to be a threat if he wanted to be. If he was going to trust him, he might as well do it properly. Besides, he really did seem concerned, and Riku found he was suddenly tired of holding everything inside for fear of burdening those he was close to. Most of it wouldn't matter, or even have any significance to Mushi, and that thought was strangely reassuring.

"I..." his breath hitched slightly, but all of his emotions seemed somewhat numb at the moment, the throbbing pain dulled to an almost-manageable ache. He took a deep breath, swallowed, and tried again. "I just lost whatever chance I had of reconciling with my once-best-friend. The next time he or his friends see me, they're going to try and kill me even if he doesn't..."

Once he started talking, he couldn't seem to stop, words tumbling over each other as they rushed from his mouth, monologue broken only by the occasional pause for breath or more of Mushi's tea. The old man kept both cups full and hot the entire time Riku spoke, nodding occasionally or making an encouraging noise if Riku hesitated. Everything from the past year and a half—worries, hopes, fears, betrayals false and real, pain, regrets, failures—spilled into the open in disjointed spurts, until there simply wasn't anything else to say, and he trailed into silence.

Mushi regarded him gently for a few moments. "...You're not as old as you look, are you?"

Riku gasped a laugh at the sheer absurdity of the non sequitur. "You're as bad as Kaito."

"I shall take that as a compliment," the old man countered, eyes glinting in amusement. "As for your situation... forgive me for being blunt, but you're harder on yourself than my nephew, and that is no easy feat. You cannot be much older than he is, and you have been thrown into situations that demand far more than any boy should be forced to give. Given the situation, you've done remarkably well for yourself—made mistakes, certainly, but nothing irredeemable. Do you really believe that you fail at everything?"

"...Yes. No. Maybe." Riku lowered his gaze, absently watching the mesmerizing swirl of the tea in his half-full cup as it rippled toward the rim at a twist of his wrist. "Perhaps not as badly as I thought," he admitted with a sigh. "But still too often. I mean... I've told you how things have been going with my friends. I keep doing things wrong for all of them, even when it comes to the big things. Most of these problems wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been there."

"But they are still your friends, are they not?" Mushi quirked an eyebrow.

"...Yes," Riku admitted reluctantly. He'd failed even at his half-hearted attempted to dissuade Kaito; the magician was amazingly tenacious about not letting him stay alone anymore. It wasn't until Mushi chuckled that he realized that he'd said that aloud. I'm not going to be able face Kaito, much less any more Organization XIII members, if I keep being this careless...

"That certainly sounds like a good friend to me," Mushi said cheerfully.

"Well... yes," Riku admitted, dragging his mind back to the thread of the conversation. "But I wasn't supposed to talk to him in the first place!"

Mushi shrugged. "And how were you supposed to know he would follow you into a black hole in the air? Most people wouldn't."

"The strange outfit and the fact I met him on a roof should've told me I needed to be more careful!" Riku argued. The reasoning sounded weak to his own ears. Mushi's raised eyebrow didn't help either. Riku paused, but then added, quieter and more certain, "The precedent definitely should have made me more careful about Hakuba."

"Because you should obviously have known that he was going to come after you even when he managed to convince the friend who had known him longer that he had nothing of the sort in mind," Mushi nodded solemnly.

"I—but—but he wasn't even supposed to know about the portals in the first place! It's my fault he did..."

"So you shouldn't have tried to the best of your ability to help your friend when he was having an inconvenient crisis."

It took Riku a few moments to process that. "What? No! But Hakuba didn't even know about the portals until later, until he made us tell him how we'd gotten there! I shouldn't have told him..."

"Ah, so you mean you should have made your mutual friend either lie to someone important to him or betray your secrets."

"What—but—I—no—" Riku floundered for a few seconds before giving up. "I still should have sent him home instead of hurting him."

"Isn't that what you were trying to do?"

Riku flinched. "Yes," he admitted quietly. "And that's the problem. I didn't mean to do it, but I still injured him. Just like..." his glance flicked guiltily back to Mushi's nephew, still out cold under the tree. Mushi clapped him on the shoulder reassuringly.

"Don't worry. Li will be fine. You weren't actually trying to hurt him, and it's hardly the first time someone's hit him over the head. I doubt that it will be the last, either - you're far from the only one to think that doing so can save a great deal of trouble."

Riku winced. "That's not what I meant," he said unhappily. "I'm still not proud of knocking him out, but when I first got here...that was an attack! And he hadn't even done anything!"

"I can assure you that in my experience, it is very rare for my nephew to have really not done anything." Mushi actually sounded amused.

Riku stared at him, bewildered. "How are you so calm about this? I attacked your nephew!"

Mushi shrugged. "You said you didn't mean to, and I believe you. And you've explained your reasons."

"But...but...how do you not understand?" Riku stared helplessly, unable to articulate why it seemed so wrong to him, one hand fruitlessly attempting to trace the shape of what he could not put words to. The overwhelming flurry of thoughts that had been dizzying him seemed to have vanished, leaving him with only the baseless certainty that something wasn't right.

"Understand what?" Mushi met his eyes squarely, with no hint of ridicule.

"It's..." Riku wrestled with the words that wouldn't come, feeling almost like a storm had swept through his mind and the pounding rain had left nothing in its wake, and finally gave up. "What I did wasn't right."

"And you know that," Mushi agreed.

"But that doesn't mean it didn't happen!"

"Would you blame any hunted creature for trying to defend itself when it felt threatened? Whether by trap, or by fire?"

"...Huh?"

"Tell me, what is it about having made a mistake that's bothering you so much?" Mushi tilted his head slightly.

"I..." Riku trailed off, and actually thought about it. It wasn't just that he'd hurt Hakuba or Li by accident. Hurting them by accident would have been dropping a log on their foot. What he'd done had been intended to hurt, even if he hadn't intended to direct it at them in particular. "I didn't mean to," Riku said slowly, realization dawning, "but I... I treated them like enemies, when they weren't."

"So it's your fault they triggered the instincts that have been keeping you alive for the last year or two."

Riku's mouth worked, but no sound emerged. Very, very belatedly, he realized that Mushi had returned to that terrifyingly conversational tone of voice.

The old man regarded him fondly and with perhaps the slightest touch of exasperation. "If I let you keep talking, you're going to convince yourself that the answer to that is yes, aren't you?" he asked dryly.

Riku had no idea how to respond to that, either, and Mushi chuckled and refilled both their cups with hot tea. "The fact that you are worried about what your reflexes do when you don't mean it means you still care about things other than fighting, and that's what's really important."

Riku blinked. "Well, of course. The things I care about are the only reason I was fighting in the first place."

"And you haven't lost sight of that. That's more important than you realize, and that's why I don't think you need to be worried."

Riku became aware that he was staring at Mushi and promptly closed his mouth. The old man regarded him with a warm glint of humor. "Your only real problem seems to be a tendency to not pay quite enough attention to what's going on around you, but I can assure you that that that is far from uncommon."

Riku sighed and looked down. "Maybe. I just... I wish I could do something without everything turning out all wrong. I was trying to help Sora, that time I reached too far into the Darkness. I wanted to be his friend again, to make up for what Ansem made me do. But instead I can't even talk to him now. Looks like that bastard got the last laugh after all."

This time Riku did give in to the impulse to laugh at the irony, a quiet, mirthless chuckle far emptier than the fit that had seized him earlier. "For that matter, I was trying to help this time, too, to stop that dragon they got their hands on because I didn't pay enough attention." He paused, and snorted. "Didn't even manage to do that, either. Though I suppose I did at least get Sora angry and pointed at it. Not that I even really needed to. If I trusted him to do his job, I wouldn't have gone meddling and turned everything else into a disaster."

"There is no shame in trying to help a friend," Mushi informed him firmly. "It wasn't as though you could know how things would turn out any of those times. Unforeseen circumstances can make fools of anyone, even those with far more experience than you to guide them. People just aren't very good at perfection, no matter how hard some of them may try." His eyes darkened slightly with memory. "And to struggle for it anyway can cost more than is wise to sacrifice."

Mushi took another sip of tea before meeting Riku's gaze again. "All you can do is your best. Better that than to be paralyzed with fear of what might go wrong, or throw away who you are in an attempt at the impossible. I believe you have already seen where that leads. A mistake is simply that, something to be learned from, not a moral failing of the soul.

Mushi's gaze went distant and slightly wistful, and he didn't even seem to notice when his gaze strayed back to the tree his nephew was lying under. "We all make our mistakes, whether in word or deed. All we can do is live with them, and try to make up for them as best we can. Besides," he added a few moments later, cheerful tone returning, "I do not truly believe the situation with your best friend is as hopeless as you seem to think."

Riku stared at Mushi, who simply smiled.

"If he still sees you, yourself, as a friend, as you said he still does, then there is still a chance. And as long as there is still a chance, you have not lost yet. While it is true that a direct approach is unlikely to accomplish what you hope...you will reach him somehow, if you can just remain patient. It may not be easy, and you may have to watch for that chance very carefully, but I'm sure that you will be able to find it. Just because it's especially difficult to get to him now, it doesn't mean that it will always stay that way. You're not the one he really thinks of as an enemy, after all." Mushi regarded him consideringly for a moment. "You could always try leaving a note for him. If he is your best friend, I'm sure he'll be happy to hear from you."

Riku sighed. "Maybe, but... if I tell him why I'm not coming to see him in person, that friend of his will probably tell him that it's so ridiculous it must be a fake. And if I don't tell him... that'll just make things worse, because I'll have to explain both what happened and why I didn't tell him earlier."

Mushi raised an eyebrow, but merely replied, "If you're sure," and took another sip of his tea. "If nothing else, you can always try being persistent. If you're patient, and are very careful not to do anything that might be considered threatening, even the least observant of boys will eventually have to notice that you're not trying to be his enemy."

Riku ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "Does that work?"

"It works on my nephew. Slowly," Mushi grinned.

Riku found himself smiling back, and gave a tired laugh. "I'll keep that in mind if I can't think of anything else, then."

"You'll manage." Mushi smiled at him.

Riku found that oddly enough, he believed him. He let out a long breath, surprised to find tension he hadn't even realized was there dissipating. But it really did make a difference, the renewed hope that he could fix his mistakes. Even if it might take a while, as long as it could be done...

And here was as good a place as any to start. "I want to say I'm sorry again for hurting your nephew."

Mushi waved it away. "Don't worry, he'll be fine! I told you, I can't say that I'm surprised you hit back, given how you walked right into the middle of his Firebending practice."

"Firebending," Riku repeated, very carefully.

"Mmhmm." Mushi nodded cheerfully.

Riku looked at the wisps of steam rising from the cups and from the spout of the teapot in the old man's hands. The teapot had been only warm when he'd carried it over earlier, and there were no coals near the rock they sat on.

"...You mentioned earlier that only the royal family of the Fire Nation has eyes this color," Riku said slowly, eyes narrowing slightly as he remembered. Mushi nodded again, still smiling.

Riku stared at him for a long moment as the old man drank his tea without any sign of concern.

"You," he declared solemnly, "are far more dangerous than you act."

"I am?" Mushi blinked at him, the picture of innocence.

"Smarter, too," Riku informed him. "You and Kaito really need to stop doing that."

Mushi chuckled. "I think I might like to meet this Kaito someday."

"...You will forgive me if I say that seems like a terrifying idea."

"If you say so," Mushi grinned, and for a moment Riku almost thought he caught a ghostly hint of fangs. But no, that was ridiculous. Just because he'd walked straight from one fire-user's attack into another didn't mean there should be a dragon here to match those he'd left behind. He must be confusing the odd sense of recognition with something else.

Really, he insisted at the part of his mind that remained unconvinced. Even though dragons traditionally tended to be old and wise and cunning and associated with fire. They were bad-tempered recluses like Himura's master, not personable old men who gave tea and advice to random strangers... weren't they?

He cut off the train of thought before it could go any further.

"I... I should be going." Before he was missed, and Kaito tried to follow him using untrained skill.

"You are feeling better, now?" Mushi gave him a kindly smile.

"I think so." Riku still had his doubts, but the mind-numbing pain had soothed beneath the reintroduction of options, and the possibility of hope. The whispers of the Dark... He'd deal with them, too. Somehow. Later. "Thank you again, for... everything."

Mushi nodded in acknowledgment. "It was my pleasure to meet such an interesting young man as yourself. Should you ever be in need of a friendly ear some other time, feel welcome to come in search of me again... Though if you do, wait until it's unnecessary to knock my nephew out before showing yourself, please." Golden eyes closed partway in good-natured amusement.

Riku chuckled. "I'll remember." He rose to his feet, waited briefly for the pins-and-needles sensation in his legs to fade to a bearable level, then turned to Mushi and handed over his teacup with a slight bow. The old man accepted it with a gracious smile.

"Good luck to you on your journey... Things will get better, eventually."

Riku sighed, and gave Mushi a wan smile. "...I can only hope."

Zuko surfaced from the depths of unconscious slowly, the journey to full alertness inhibited by the ungodly headache throbbing through his skull.

"Ah, I see you're awake, Prince Zuko."

"Uncle?" He opened his eyes and gingerly turned his head towards the source of the voice. Iroh sat on the ground nearby, watching him and calmly drinking yet another cup of tea. As usual...

A moment later memory intruded and he jerked partially upright, only to groan and drop back to the ground, his head in his hands. Sudden movements and migraines did not mix well. The worrying question remained however, and as he waited for the spike of pain to recede he asked urgently, "What happened to the assassin?"

"What assassin?"

Zuko carefully turned his head to give his uncle a look. "The one that appeared out of that... that black hole in the air!"

"Hm, that knock on the head must have been worse than I thought if you've been hallucinating." Iroh shook his head slightly and took another sip of tea, a model of tranquility.

"...What knock on the head?" Zuko ventured uncertainly. One of his hands gingerly explored the back of his scalp, and was rewarded with the discovery of a painfully swollen area. Thankfully, he didn't find any blood, nor did he feel the nausea he'd come to find accompanied a concussion.

"You were a bit too careless while you were training and had a rather painful-looking encounter with a tree over there. I think you even left a dent in the bark."

"But... but..." Zuko glanced between his uncle and the aforementioned tree helplessly.

"Yes, nephew?"

"I wasn't anywhere near that tree!"

"Oh, my, it seems to have affected your recent memory as well. It must be very serious indeed!" Iroh regarded him with concern.

...Zuko was distantly aware the he was gaping in a manner completely un-befitting a prince. The knowledge didn't help.

"Now just stay very still, and I'll go find some tea that's supposed to be good for this sort of thing..." Iroh meticulously set the teacup on a nearby flat rock and rummaged briefly through his pack. "I keep telling you that you need to pay more attention to your surroundings, nephew," he added as he dropped some tealeaves in hot water to steep.

Zuko stared at his uncle in utter bewilderment, trying to insert sense back into the universe. "I..."

Iroh walked over and gently propped Zuko up in a reclining position, then set the teacup in his hands. "This should help with your headache, Prince Zuko. Please don't try to get up."

After one last glance between Iroh, the tree, and his tea, Zuko gave a resigned sigh and gave up trying to understand. It wasn't as though it usually worked anyway.

"Yes, Uncle..."

Author's notes:
Credit goes to Snickerer for lots of Iroh's dialogue. LOTS of. This chapter would not have reached half its potential without her invaluable assistance. ^^ Thanks also go to Ellen for her help with piecing Riku back together.

Worlds visited: Avatar: The Last Airbender, somewhere around Season 2.

Next chapter: What Kaito's been up to during all of this...

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