Author Notes: While the progression of the story roughly follows that of the show, many events are changed, arranged in a different order or omitted. This is fan fiction, after all.

"Bosco remembers you, and so do I," the King stood to his full height. He was still dwarfed by the pony tailed man but had broader shoulders. "I have a lot of questions, and I'm sure Long Feng here has even more," Kuei adjusted his glasses. "Who is the kid with the arrow on his head?"

"That, my king is the Avatar," Long Feng pointed to Aang. Aang briefly broke his bracelets to wave, before the Dai Li reinforced their grip. Bosco the bear crawled towards Aang and licked his bald head, making the boy chuckle unwillingly.

"Bosco likes him," Kuei shrugged. "Let them go, except my brother."

"Hey, where are you taking him!" Toph had to be physically restrained by the others. Sokka and Katara were helpless, just as Appa was in his net.

"We have quite a few things to talk about," Kuei himself took Mitsu by the arm and to an adjoining hall. "The others are royal guests, at least after their repair my doors. Just kidding!"

The gang was led outside the throne room by the Dai Li, leaving Kuei and Mitsu in the hall on the other side of where they were taken. Mitsu's bracelets fell apart as the Earth King hugged his brother, with only a solitary guard with them.

"Where have you been all these years?" Kuei's expression changed from stern to relieved. "This belongs to you, not me!" the Earth King took off his robe and offered it to Mitsu.

"I refused last time, and I refuse it now," Mitsu did not look at his brother.

"Come on, the council chose you instead of me!"

"I was twelve! And have you forgotten about these?" Mitsu looked Kuei right in the eye, his golden stare contrasting with his brother's calm green. "You were fourteen!"

"I don't care if you're as blind as that kid Earthbender, or have a billion eyes, you're the rightful king and you know it!" Kuei thrust the robes into Mitsu's hands.

"I am not, you twerp!" Mitsu shoved them back with force, sending the King to the ground. "You've been holding on to this responsibility for over five years, I don't see what I could do better."

"I want…I want to get out of here!" Kuei growled as the guard stirred slightly.

"You don't go on your secret walks anymore with that bear of yours? I saw you just the other day in the park. Your impressions of a deep voiced man are not convincing at all."

Kuei sighed and looked at a painting on the wall. "I mean out of the city. I'm ruling over a place I've never seen since I was who knows how old. I want out, I wanted to be like you, going to the Song Yi or traveling to other Nations."

"Then what kept you? You're the Earth King, after all. Just tell people to step aside, the Dai Li be damned. That's what I did."

"Long Feng kept me on a tight leash when I was a kid and he still does. I think the only time I did something he didn't anticipate was when I let that Fire Nation prince go. Since then he's been running the place and apparently for my own safety I can't even leave this palace. I hate it here, man! I haven't even seen old Bumi in like, ten years!"

Mitsu grasped his chin. "The Council of Five? Are they also under Long Feng?"

" No, but I can't even give my seal to them and the Dai Li block the army from meeting me directly well, except for my personal guard like Rock here," he tapped the guard on the shoulder.

"You do know there's a war outside the walls and a giant Fire Nation drill that almost broke those walls, right?" Mitsu looked at Rock.

Kuei had a blank expression. "A war? With who? Are the Fire Nation back?"

"Good lords of earth and stone, you don't know? Now I'm glad I left!" Mitsu pulled at his hair. "Don't tell me, Long Feng tells you it was just a raid or something?"

"Raid? No, he doesn't tell me anything!" Kuei made a fist.

"Screw this, you're coming with me," Mitsu threw his staff through the walls and grabbed Kuei.

"What about the others?" Kuei held on to his hat.

"Bosco can entertain them. You must have taught him a lot of things, eh?" Mitsu flew out the hole with his brother.

"You bet! He can juggle, wrestle, do sign language and even write!"

"No way, he can write?" Mitsu burst out of the last cavity in the wall.

"Way! Hey, you're flying!! WE'RE FLYING!?" Kuei started screaming. The citizenry looked up, but since no one had seen the Earth King for five years, no one knew it was in fact their lord and master crying like a spanked baby as he streaked across the sky. They reached the Outer Wall, where a panicking General Feng hid under his table.

"We're under attack!" he wailed.

"Sir, it's the stranger with the Avatar's group. And that looks like…the King?"

"It's an impostor, shoot on sight!"

"Oh, shut up General," the Spear Captain sighed. "I mean, shut up General Sir. That's the King and the former Prince."

"What? The King? Are you sure, Zhen?"

"Clear as Omashu crystal," the captain waved to the Force bender and the howling sovereign. They landed with a plop and flat on their backs, both laughing like madmen.

"It hurts, but my throat hurts more!" Kuei was helped up by his soldiers.

"You big pansy. I'm ashamed to call you big brother!" Mitsu slapped his brother on the back.

"Scared? No, I was having fun!" Kuei dusted himself off in front of the bemused general. "You can't tell fear from excitement?"

"Excite yourself with that," Mitsu pointed to the remains of the giant drill Aang and the gang had stopped with great effort just recently. The hole had been repaired, but the massive metal monster was near impossible to move, with no one really knowing how to operate the machinery, if it still worked. The Earth soldiers had just left it there to rot.

"Bro, this is me being afraid," Kuei looked over the wall. The wall trembled slightly, although no one noticed.

"That thing almost made it to the outer rim. Aang, the Avatar stopped it just in time with our help, especially the blind Earthbender you saw in the throne room."

"We also did our best, my lord!" the general prostrated out of fear rather than custom.

"Why is he bending like that?" Kuei rubbed his head. "We don't do that here. Even the customs seem to have changed outside."

"Long Feng told us that you were merciless to people not pulling their weight. He said that you'd have us crushed underneath the wall to make it stronger!" the general shook.

"Why did he say that? I have no such intention of doing that!" Kuei gasped.

"The Dai Li take people to the palace all the time, especially refugees from other parts of the kingdom," Zhen stepped forward and bent down on one knee, the proper Earth Kingdom customary greeting.

"There are other people here?" the King turned to Mitsu. "Bro, tell me everything!"

"I'll leave that to the Avatar and his group," Kuei looked over his brother's shoulder to see Aang and the crew, with Sokka teaching Bosco how to do back rolls. "General Feng?"

"Yes, my lord?"

"Arrest Long Feng and all senior members of the Dai Li. I want to know everything." Kuei's voice became darker as he made a fist. Soldiers ran towards the tunnels that led to their barracks underneath the palace, replaced by the fresh guard shift. The earth shook more violently this time, though the guards were used to it from regular training exercises.

"See," Mitsu put his hand on Kuei's shoulder. "That's why you're going to be a great King."

"Right now, I'd settle for people telling me the truth. Starting with the Avatar," Kuei bent his knee for Aang who responded with the Air Nomad bow. "Indoors, where we can all get something to eat. Yes, you as well Bosco." The bear did a perfect forward roll and licked its master. Sokka tried the same thing and fell onto the floor a crumpled heap.

"Damn this Bear bending!"