Zuko

After we landed, I climbed down onto the ground and Sokka passed Xinche to me. I caught him and set him on his feet although I considered missing. We hadn't discussed the deal with him yet. Sam and I wanted to hammer out more details before we did that. He would be sent to a holding cell at the palace until we could talk to him. He would only have human contact when they would bring him his food.

I look over at Sam and she had the gun in her hand. I felt so foolish about initially not wanting her to come at first because, had she not come, there probably would have been at least one casualty. I hadn't admitted it to her, but she looked so sexy standing there with the gun in her hand, training it right on Xinche. I was thankful for my robes because my body was betraying my desire. Sokka followed Sam. He wanted a closer look at the gun. Sam didn't seem to think it a good idea. She said they're dangerous. After today's display, I had to agree with her.

"I promise, I will sit down with you and go over the gun but I don't want you discharging the weapon. And you need to be properly trained before even handling it. It's not that I don't trust you. It's just, these things are easy to happen. I've seen them happen in my previous life." she said. Sokka seemed disappointed, but he resolved to her plan. I didn't blame her for being cautious. Sokka wasn't the impulsive and headstrong boy he was when we first became friends. He had matured a lot but it's still a precaution that I thought Sam was wise to follow.

Azula walked out into the courtyard and up to me. "Hello, Brother. I see you got the vermin." she said, noticing Xinche bound and gagged. He complained too much on the way here so Sokka had silenced him. "Did he put up much of a fight?"

"He did, actually. But Sam handled it with finesse."

"Sam?!" Azula asked, surprised.

"Yes, he drew a weapon that is not prevalent here in the bending nations but she was familiar with it, so she was able to subdue him." I said, gesturing to Sam with my chin. Azula followed my gaze and she saw Sam with the gun in her hand.

"What is that thing?" she asked.

"It's a gun, apparently."

"Oh, I have heard of those but I didn't think they were here." she said, referring to the bending nations.

"Well, I hope this is the only one, but Sam doesn't think so. She said if there is one there is probably more. And she is most likely correct."

"So why did you bring him back here?" she asked. I glanced over at Xinche, who was still in earshot.

"I'll tell you about it later. I don't want to spoil any 'surprises' for our dear guest." I said, sarcastically. Azula smirked and agreed.

"Are the girls in school?" I asked. I really wanted to see Izumi.

"Yes, even though Izumi was upset, she did go to school, although she went in late. Chang went with Geshna." I looked at the sky and realized it would only be a couple of hours before she would come back. I looked over at Sokka, Aang, Katara and the children and I approached them.

"Were you guys going to stay or get headed out?"

"We would like to stay to see what his decision is. Then we will need to get going. We have been away for far too long and we must get back. Please keep us up to date on what goes down." Aang said. I understood that. They had been here for a couple of months. I'm sure there were a lot of things they had to get accomplished when they got home.

"Sounds like a plan. Sam and I want to pound out some of the details before presenting anything to Xinche." As I spoke, the guard finally came to take Xinche to his holding cell. "Why don't we all meet in our usual council room. Azula would also like to attend." I said. Even though Azula had found reform and was doing very well for herself, my friends had trouble trusting her. "Don't worry, she will be alright." If they didn't trust her, they did trust me. So they did go along with it.

We all headed to the council room and we all sat down around the table. I sat at the head of the table. Sam was to my right and Azula was to my left. Sokka sat at the other head of the table, where his father would usually sit.

After much discussion, we decided how we were going to handle Xinche and the deal. We went to the throne room so it was more official. People found the throne intimidating, and me on it moreso, so I wanted to rattle him as much as possible. I sat on my throne and Sam sat to my right. The rest of our friends stood on the floor below the thrones, waiting for us to lay out the details. Before long, the guard brought Xinche, who was forced onto his knees in front of me and Sam.

"Xinche, do you know why you're here?" I asked. I always started my sentencing this way. I wanted to make sure the person knew why they were there. With Xinche, there was a bit of a cat and mouse game going too.

"Yes, because you people have brought some ridiculous claims against me."

"What claims are they?"

"You know fine well what claims they are, 'Fire Lord'." he said with contempt.

"Tell me."

"Claims that are preposterous." He said. I sat back in my chair and made myself comfortable.

"We can sit here all day, Xinche. Guards, bring some chairs for my friends as we wait."

"Fine! You think for some ridiculous reason that I had something to do with the girls and the houses."

"Now, see? That wasn't so bad. Now was it?" I asked, eliciting soft laughter from my friends who quickly regained their composure. "We have something that you might be interested in. A deal, if you may." Xinche was intrigued. "As it stands right now, you are up for the death penalty. I don't see any reason why you should receive anything different." I said. I saw Xinche's eyes widen at this. He obviously hadn't considered the severity of the crime to the degree the rest of the world did. "But, we are willing to make you a deal."

"What kind of deal?" he asked, apprehensively.

"Well, as I said before, you face the death penalty which would be carried out here, in the Fire Nation. However, we are willing to exchange the death penalty for life if you provide us with information."

"What kind of information?"

"Where all of the houses are located in all of the bending nations. We want the nation, the location and the names associated with the houses. Who runs them for you. Who is recruiting in that area. We want everything. If you provide us with that, then you will not receive the death penalty. If you are not truthful with us, and trust me, we will know, then the deal is off." I explained. Xinche deliberated for a moment. He obviously wasn't sure if it would be a fair trade. If he were smart, at the end of the day, it's a sweet deal. He tell us a few things and then he gets to live.

"Fine, I'll give you all of the information that you want."

"Good choice." I said. I felt a soft touch on my hand and looked over to Sam who was looking inquisitively at me. She had something to say. "Would you like to add something, Fire Lady Samyah?"

"Yes, we will also be expecting you to give us the location of any bookkeeping you have been maintaining. You can't run this many houses without a paper trail. This will also be included in the terms of the deal if the Fire Lord agrees." she said, looking at me.

"Yes, I agree. I think this is a reasonable and prudent request."

"Fine. I'll give you the documentation for all of the houses. I can tell you where to find it."

"Good," I said. I looked at Sokka, "Sokka, before Xinche is taken to his cell in Capital City, I want you to get this information from him. Once you get it, someone will have to go to Republic City and retrieve them. Once you have them, bring them back to us and Sam and I will go over it with a fine toothed comb." I said. Sokka nodded and agreed. "Guard, please escort Xinche to his holding cell. Sokka will accompany you and gather the information needed. Once we are satisfied we have all of the documents, Xinche will be moved to his new home. A 6x9 cell." I said and looked at Xinche, "Home sweet home." I said which resulted in a glare from Xinche.

Once they were all out of the room, Aang, Katara and the children started to gather their things to return home. Sokka would use an airship to get to Capital City. It isn't as fast, but Aang and Katara wanted to get home as soon as possible now that the immediate threat was over.

"Zuko, I think it's about time for the girls." Sam said, excitedly. We were eager to see them.

"Yes, you're right. It is." I said. I stood up and faced Sam. I held my hand out and helped her out of her throne. We walked down the halls to the steps of the palace, her hand resting in the crook of my elbow. We arrived early to meet the girls. We were grateful though. It gave us some time to rest a moment and breathe. It had been a long and busy day. I could tell Sam was tired from all of the excitement. My own eyelids were becoming heavy. Soon, we saw the three figures round the corner. As soon as Izumi saw us, she ran forward and hugged us.

"Mommy! Daddy! You're back! I was scared!" she said.

"I know, sweetheart. I'm sorry we left without saying anything." Sam said. "We didn't want to interrupt your sleep. You looked so peaceful." she said, playfully mimicking Izumi being fast asleep.

"I don't look like that, Mommy!" she said, laughing.

"How would you know what you look like? Have you ever seen yourself sleeping?"

"Yeah!" she said.

"How, Silly? You're asleep! You're eyes are closed. How can you see yourself?" Sam asked, playing along.

"I can see through my eye!" she said, giggling, referring to her eyelids.

"Chang, how was school, hunny?" I asked, looking up at Chang.

"It was ok." she said.

"Come, now. Why so glum?" I asked and Chang just shrugged. She remained silent. Geshna came over and whispered.

"In art class, they were making things out of clay and Chang made one of Azula. Mayno made fun of her for it and smashed it. He said that Azula should be in jail." I found this somewhat ironic since Chang had used this same tactic to bully Izumi. I looked over at Chang and she started to cry.

"Oh, sweetheart, come here." I said, kneeling down. She ran over and threw her arms around my neck. "Shh. It's ok. Don't let the bullies get to you. They're just being mean."

"Do you want to tell Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Sam what Izumi did after the bully made fun of you and ruined your clay?" Geshna asked. To my surprise, Chang started to smile a bit.

"Izumi stuck up for me." was all Chang said. Geshna elaborated.

"Izumi told Mayno to stop being mean to Chang and to stop making fun. Mayno told her to 'buzz off and mind her own business', (his words, not mine) and Chang told Mayno to not be mean to her friend. Then Izumi sat down and helped Chang make her sculpture again. At that, he gave up." Geshna said. "I was VERY proud of them both." Izumi glanced up at Geshna, and blushed.

"Izumi. Chang. You guys did that?" Sam said. Izumi shrugged and Chang made no acknowledgement.

"Yeah, I guess." Izumi said, being modest.

"Izumi, Chang, I am so proud of you for sticking up for your friend. And not only for sticking up for her but for working together to fix her sculpture." Sam then looked at me and back at Izumi, "we are both so proud of you!" she said. She was starting to get tears in her eyes.

I knelt down in front of Izumi and Chang, "I can't tell you how proud of both of you I am. I don't know if I have ever been prouder. You both displayed great friendship traits and I can tell you both love each other." I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up at Sam and she gestured for me to stand up. She whispered in my ear and I nodded in agreement. Sam spoke.

"Since you girls have off school tomorrow and because you both were so good today, we will take you tomorrow to the toy store and you can each pick out a toy. How does that sound?" Sam asked. The girls faces beamed and they jumped up and down, hugging each other. They both shouted in agreement. To calm them down, I held a finger up and stooped down to their level.

"Ah. Now what do you say?"

"Thank you!" they both said in unison.

"Alright, go and put your bags in your rooms and go on and play. Zuko and I will be waiting out in the Turtleduck garden." Sam said. We were going to give them extra play time. They had earned it.