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.
The attendants looked like circus flat nosed gibbons as they tried to catch every bit of cutlery thrown by Azula. Ty Lee laughed while Mai simply sat in another room. Zuko was the only one trying to calm his sister down after the 'shame' of losing the Kuai Ball game and being forced to be the opposing captain's date as well.
"Hey, this is your masters' house! Cut it out!" Zuko barely dodged a flying vase that one of the attendants barely caught with a diving motion a kingfisher would have been proud of.
"Ooh, that arrogant, pompous little…" she sent a bolt of lightning out the window before sitting cross-legged and hanging her head. Zuko looked confused but Ty Lee cart wheeled to her friend's side.
"This is exciting! A boy's finally asked Azula out and hasn't had his hair burned off!" she smiled.
"She didn't get the chance," Zuko picked an attendant off the floor.
"I don't know what to wear…" the princess mumbled.
"Did we hear date?" Lo and Li poked their heads around the corner.
"It's the Outlander, as Azula calls him! Isn't that romantic?" Ty Lee was about to explode in sheer saccharine goodness.
"Oh, we had a saying when we were your age," Lo looked at her sister and their both nodded. "To the party!" they added a multi stage handshake and head bob.
"To the party indeed," Mitsu could be heard from his window on the other side. The two houses were barely five feet apart, with hints that they were once one.
"Come on in, young man and have tea with us!" Li waved and flashed her few remaining teeth.
"No, Master!" Azula scampered towards the wall. "I am not having tea with that…foreigner!"
"You won't get rabies," Mitsu grinned as he landed on the floor, having leapt through the window. "Hey there, cuteness," he put his finger underneath Ty Lee's chin, making her blush.
"If I was eighty years younger," Lo sighed.
"Tea will be served shortly, youngsters," Li pulled her sister out of the room.
Azula got up and formed a tongue of blue fire from her index finger, pointing it Mitsu. "You have some nerve coming here to our house and getting tea."
"This isn't your house, this is Li and Lo's house," Mitsu put his arm around Ty Lee's shoulders. "Besides, we can chat all we like later at Chan's house. If you're coming."
"I'm coming!" Ty Lee nodded and leaned into Mitsu's chest smiling. "Wow, your chest is so tight!"
"It's not like we have anything to do later anyway," Azula growled.
"If you don't mind Ty Lee, I think she's my date, so…"
"Sure!" she let him go and clasped her hands in anticipation. Azula was actually nervous, not angry, she of all people could tell. Azula was rarely uncertain, but this was one of those times.
The attendants came in with a hexagonical tea table, while another woman came in with a giant teapot with accompanying cups and wide spoons. One glowered at Azula for almost destroying her tea set but otherwise they shuffled out of the room right as Mai came in.
"Hey there," Mai dryly welcomed Mitsu.
"Afternoon," Mitsu bowed. "Aren't you the Omashu Governor's daughter?" Mitsu remembered her from a family portrait. Few people resembled their paintings in the Fire Nation, but Mai was a dead ringer for her portrait, unsmiling and with no expression from the land of the living.
"Yes I am," Mai sat upright and took the first tea.
"He sends his regards, and so does your mother."
"We call that place New Ozai now, outlander," Azula sipped at her tea.
"Forgive me Princess, I am Earth Kingdom born and new names are still… new to us." Mitsu made the fist-palm gesture and took his tea.
"How's my little brother?" Mai's sudden look of concern stirred Zuko to life.
"He's fine, but that is on the word of your mother. I did not see him myself."
Mitsu took his tea bowl with both hands and cupped it into his mouth in the Fire Nation fashion, or rather as Zuko alone noticed, in Iroh fashion with left hand under right.
"So how do you know Zuko?" Ty Lee cozied up to him.
"We met when he was travelling on his own in Earth territory. Dangerous guy, this prince of yours."
"I'll believe it when I see it," Azula elbowed her brother. "Dangerous to himself, you mean."
"I don't know, he fought off an elite platoon of Hammer Earthbenders by himself with no support. By the time we got to him they were all downed and he had run off. He's pretty good with a sword, too."
"Well, today's full of surprises," Azula rolled her eyes and finished her tea. "Congratulations Zuzu, you have a fan."
Zuko eyed a shrimp cracker and threw it into his mouth. "I guess I do. Welcome to the group, I guess."
"We're not a 'group'," moaned Mai.
"I'm flattered, but I can't stay long. I'm leaving tomorrow."
"You're not leaving!" Azula threw down her teacup, virtually silencing the room. "Uh, I mean we're just starting get to know you." She picked her cup back and put it to her mouth, although there was no tea left in it.
"I guess that's an order," Mitsu looked at Zuko and shrugged. "Got any Messenger hawks to send to the Admiral?"
"Easy," Azula clapped her hands and an attendant nodded, exiting the house shortly after. "The Tourist Office has some, you'll have one soon," she twirled her white spoon. Ty Lee grinned nervously at her rather socially inept friend.
"Let's put it this way," Mitsu stood up. "If I don't get a Hawk by tomorrow morning at first light, your hawk will be mine. The Admiral doesn't think much of the Royals apart from your father, but that's just him. I've enjoyed meeting you all and the tea, but I want to look around the island, maybe practice some uh, sand bending."
"Can I come along?" Ty Lee gripped his arm.
"Not this time, I'm afraid. In the desert we explore alone." He patted Ty Lee on the head and bowed to the others. Azula was restraining herself from exploding, while Mai flashed a stiletto knife at her in a sign of her growing impatience with the mood swinging princess.
"I'll take the window again?" Mitsu shrugged and leapt towards his own vacation house. "Remember, party at eight!" he landed silently in the courtyard of Zhao's house, shooting them a shining eye.
"Do we have to come?" Mai threw a knife at the exposed part of the wall.
"What else are you going to do? Mope around all day and all night?" Azula reordered the tea set. "It'll give us someone to do."
"Azula," Ty Lee giggled, "You mean something to do?"
Azula turned beet red, "what do you mean?"
The Fire Nation's way of telling time at night was a flare clock mounted on the highest point of every island; while in some houses mechanical clocks were commonplace. Zhao, a collector of clocks took them to his grave, with the funeral boat floating morosely with the ticking of several clocks, headed to its eventual sinking at the nearby naval base where a service for Zhao would be held. Mitsu noticed the flares light up for seven on the highest hill and flew low past the guard posts he had cased earlier. He swung around the hill and spotted a clearing to land.
The ground was soft and the air still, but then again this was a memorial spot. It seemed slightly neglected but was still grand, with perpetually blooming spring flowers and vines running over the sides of the clearing. It was fit for a princess and queen out of some dream, with the waning moon silently observing in the sky. No birds were around, their chirping absent from the night noises, leaving only the waves to sing for the departed.
"Ta Min, wife of Avatar Roku," Mitsu brushed a headstone aside. "Rest in peace," Mitsu gently blew over the stone tablet. "I do not seek you tonight."
He went to ground and started sweeping it with his hands, the hard stone making his fingers jiggle. The grass had penetrated the stone in some parts, but otherwise the ground was flat and that made it easier for him to find what he was looking for. A single white handkerchief was lodged in the stone, flapping about in the small breeze. Mitsu gripped it with both hands and pulled it up, exposing more of the cloth that led into the forest. He force bent the stone back down and followed the cloth into the wood. Animals were quiet as he passed by, his glowing golden eyes being the only light in the darkening wood. The cloth ended deep in the forest, tied around a tree. Mitsu took out a tinderbox and lit the four torches that surrounded the tree. Two names were on the tree, etched with two very different styles of calligraphy.
"Chao Dong of the Northern Water Tribe, Master of the Cloth." Mitsu felt the characters on the right.
"Zhan Ming of the noble house of Zhan, former Princess of the Fire Nation." He traced the left side characters.
"I have come," he reached into his hip pack and placed Sozin's headpiece in front of the tree, bowing with hands clasped.
The wind began to blow faster with the animals scattering, but Mitsu remained unmoved. The tree seemed to grow bigger as the torches burned brighter. No one lived within miles of this spot, though a distant ship would be able to spot a brief flicker of light from the shore. The torches burned yellow at first, then red, then purple, then white. Mitsu felt his spine shiver as he felt the cold descent of beings in the Spirit World.
"Welcome to our long home," a reverberating female voice rasped.
"One we built together," a soft-sounding male joined in.
"Open your eyes, young one."
Mitsu opened his eyes and saw a tall, strikingly beautiful woman dressed in white robes with a pale face, with Sozin's headpiece, glowing golden and red on her head. Beside her was a taller, slightly shrouded man in white with threads of what looked like cloth pulsing around him like paper blown in the wind.
"I am out of time, and I am lost, old ones. I cannot finish this mission." Mitsu looked at his hand. He had about one full day left before the Day of the Black Sun and then half a day for the noon eclipse. Finding and breaking Iroh out would take too long, plus there was the complication of Zuko recognizing him, though thankfully not as an Earth Kingdom Prince. He was lucky all images of him were removed from the palace in Ba Sing Se; in fact the custom was to paint portraits only after death.
"You are not lost; fate weaves strangely at times, "Chao descended first. Mitsu couldn't see his face, covered with a white cloth. "You love the heir of the headpiece like your own father, despite not spending more than a few choice months with him in your youth. The other heir you love like a brother, despite your own birth brother being there for you. Yes, this will make most men lost in thought and consequence."
"I do not know my father the King of Earth under Heaven," Mitsu stood up and looked Chao in the eye. "Iroh was the only man that ever treated me like a son, even if it was brief. Zuko is like a son to him; hence he too is my brother. I am not lost there, though he may be."
"I do understand. It was jarring, living under the roof of the Fire Lord," Chao looked at his wife. "I had to be assured daily that my life was not under threat despite the favor of the Fire Lord at the time. Oh, Kuzon! How your line has fallen into disgrace. He was a happy old man in his day, merry as could be. I would do anything for that man."
"Including fighting for his honor against my brother," Zhan descended and took her husband's arm. "That has always been the failure of my people, to strike first in the name of pride."
"Not all surely, White Phoenix," Mitsu turned to face her.
"The heir of my headpiece is more like my father than his own fathers. The Fire Nation will redeem itself some day; do not concern yourself with the morality of my people as that duty falls squarely on my heirs."
"I too, am your heir."
"Not of that persuasion. I speak of blood and of lineage. The bride of Roku lies outside, and it is her kin that will lead the Fire People to the Sun or to Hellfire. The man you call brother is of that kin."
"Zuko is a descendant of Avatar Roku?" Mitsu's eyes opened wide.
"He is my descendant," Zhan descended all the way to the ground. Her eyes matched Zuko's amber, visible even with her glowing golden pupils. "Ta Min was the daughter of my daughter. Hear the words of the former Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, young prince of Ba Sing Se. Hear the words of she who left the house of the Fire Lord and joined the house of her mother out of love. Zuko will make a choice soon, one that he has delayed making in full for so long. You are to guide him should he choose wisely."
"He seems to have chosen the path of his sister."
"He is not what he seems," Chao descended to the ground. "You would do best to find out what is in his heart, for his sister is alien to us. Kin by blood, but not in spirit. I may yet be wrong, as she is but a young child."
"Go now, with our blessing and your courage," Zhan bent down to kiss Mitsu on the forehead, "We are of the Spirit World now and have some foresight; you will come here again and not learn, but teach. We can tell you no more, the Moon is warning us that time is short."
"Princess Yue," Mitsu looked up at the silver disc in the sky. "Thank you for your vigilance, First Bender," Mitsu bowed and buried the white cloth, then put out the candles. The forest went dark, but it didn't seem so dark this time as Mitsu flew out of the forested part of Ember Island and towards the house of Zhao. A quick change and he was at the door of Lo and Li, dressed in what the locals might for a night out. An excited Ty Lee opened the door, smiling as always, with her friends behind her.