Author's Note: Hey everyone! Before we start with the new chapter, I just want to, as always, thank you for your continuing support and interest in this story. In this chapter we'll deal with the waterbending scroll, while Takai is still recuperating. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Zuko's ship, 100 AC

Zuko stood on the main deck of his ship, watching the horizon with determination in his gaze. He didn't care to look at any members of his crew. If he was honest, he didn't want them to see how worried he was. Over the last days, Takai had been awake a few times, but not regularly and he still needed close attention from Doctor Ye, even though the doctor kept telling Zuko that Takai was making much more progress in healing his burn wounds than he had expected, Zuko couldn't help but worry. Guilt and shame plagued him ever since. For not paying enough attention. For not protecting his family first.

Suddenly the ship made a sharp turn. Someone changed their course. Furiously he stormed towards the top of the boat. "What's the meaning of this mutiny? No one told you to change course!", he yelled at the helmsman.

"Actually, someone did. I assure you, it is a matter of utmost importance, Prince Zuko.", his uncle, whom he hadn't noticed before, tried to calm him, while playing Pai Sho with a few crew members. The engineer ducked out of Zuko's sight. Ever since the incident with the fire ball their relationship was tense.

"Is it something to do with the Avatar?", Zuko wondered.

"Even more urgent. It seems, I have lost my lotus tile.", Iroh said as he moved a tile over the board.

"Lotus tile?", Zuko asked confused.

"For my Pai Sho game. Most people think the lotus tile insignificant, but it is essential for the unusual strategy that I employ.", his uncle explained.

Bewildered and in disbelief the banished prince stammered, "You've changed our course for a stupid lotus tile?"

"See, you, like most people, underestimate it's value. Just give me ten minutes to check the merchants at this port of call. Hopefully, they will have the lotus tile in stock and I can get on with my life.", Iroh said excitedly. Angrily, Zuko breathed fire at the ceiling, and his uncle added, "I'm lucky to have such and understanding nephew."

Someone knocked at the door, it was hesitant, maybe even shy. Zuko looked up and saw Doctor Ye standing in the doorway. Immediately, his expression changed, "Doctor Ye, what is it?", he asked, fearing bad news.

The doctor smiled briefly, unsure of himself, "Prince Zuko, your brother wants to see you."

Immediately Zuko rushed out of the room and towards his brother's quarters. Only in front of the iron door did he slow his pace. Carefully he opened it and stepped inside. Takai was sitting upright in his bed, propped up with a few cushions behind his back. He wore a simple white shirt that covered up most of the bandages that still wrapped around his hands. The patch on his throat was gone, the skin merely looking bruised, but the one on his cheek was still there. He smiled tiredly at his brother.

Quickly, Zuko sat down on Takai's bedside. "Brother, you're awake.", he said, sounding relieved.

Takai smiled and took one of Zuko's hands in his own, bandaged ones. Zuko noticed that his fingertips were now left free. "I'm glad to see you, Zuko.", Takai's voice still sounded rough, like there still was something scratching in his throat.

"How do you feel?", it was the first thing that shot through Zuko's mind, and he cursed himself inwardly for asking it. How did he think his brother was feeling, with half a dozen fresh burns on his body.

Takai chuckled, "Right now? I've been better.", and as he saw his brother's expression he added, "Don't worry, I had worse. It may take some time, but I'll recuperate. Promise.", Zuko huffed, he didn't take his brother for serious there. Takai sensed that and his expression turned into a playful pout, "Sparky, you don't believe me? Doctor Ye said, if I'm lucky I can try to stand up tomorrow. But for now, tell me what happened while I was out."

"Uhm, well, back when we were in Fire Nation waters, I planned to use the smoke we emitted as a cover for the small boat and head to Crescent Island unnoticed, while this ship would follow a different course. And I thought everything worked well. I managed to surprise the Avatar and his friends in the temple with the help of the Fire Sages. We discovered that one of them was a traitor, helping the Avatar.", Zuko sighed heavily, "But somehow, he managed to wriggle out of my grip and get into a sealed chamber. We couldn't get in, so I tried interrogating the traitorous sage. But before I could get anywhere, Zhao and some soldiers appeared behind us. He took control of the situation, and I ended up chained to a column next to the two Water Tribe peasants. By the way, the girl asked where you were."

Takai's eyes lit up, "Katara? What did she say?"

Zuko rolled his eyes, "Since you like her, I told her that you were hurt. She cried."

A small "Oh.", was all he got as an answer. After a brief moment of awkward silence, Takai asked, "Did you give her the necklace?"

Zuko stared at him, perplexed, blinking, "No, of course not. Why would I? It can be useful for us."

This time, Takai rolled his eyes.

"Anyway,", his brother continued, "When the doors opened again, there was not the airbender but Avatar Roku, eyes glowing. He dodged all the attacks from Zhao's soldiers and redirected their fire at them, freeing all of us in the process. I hurried out when he began to destroy the temple."

"Do you know if the Avatar and his friends made it out of there?", Takai asked urgently.

Zuko knew, his brother was just asking, because he was smitten by that peasant. So, he crossed his arms, "Yes, I saw them all on the bison's back later on through the telescope."

"That's good.", Takai sank back into the cushions, relieve plastered all over his face. "Say, Sparky, could you send for some tea?", his voice suddenly became weaker.

Worriedly, Zuko nodded, "You should rest. Focus on recuperating. I'll send you some tea when your awake next time.", before he could add anything else, Takai sank back into a deep slumber. Slowly and silently, Zuko stood up. He sneaked over to his brother's desk. The banished prince felt like he was betraying his twin, who was sleeping just a few steps away, but he shoved that thought aside.

As quiet as possible he opened the drawer under the desk. In there laid the small toolkit he had seen his brother work with on the necklace, said necklace and a picture. Wondering since he didn't recognize it, he took not only the necklace, but also the picture out. It seemed to be some kind of family portrait, but it was unusual, since it was made in color and not just an ink painting. He could see five people, two adults and three children. The man was nearly as old as his uncle, his hair somewhere between gray and white. He was tall, but sturdy and had a rather round face. Next to him stood a woman that must've been around his age as well, although her hair was of a reddish-brown color, her face already showed many wrinkles. Both looked friendly and welcoming towards the viewer, their hands, if visible, on the shoulders of one of the three children.

The children seemed all to be boys in various ages. The youngest had dark skin and curly, short hair. Shyly he stuck close to the elderly woman. On the left was what seemed to be the oldest of the boys, a teenager, maybe fourteen years of age. He had light skin and brown hair and wore thick glasses. One of his hands rested on the shoulder of the third boy, who seemed to be about ten or eleven years old. He sat in some kind of wheelchair. It was visible that the child missed both of his legs and his right arm, but he still smiled at the viewer. Shocked, Zuko stared at his brother's younger face.

He put the picture back and closed the drawer, then he turned and stared at his brother's sleeping form. He had told him that he had found a new home, but it somehow still hurt that he didn't tell him that he had also found a new family. Zuko felt betrayed, but also touched that his twin still chose to join him on his mission.

Something bugged him about the picture as he joined his uncle on the market of the next port. Takai's limbs on the photo were missing. But as he was still sleeping in the interior of the ship, they were all there, hurt, but there. How could he possibly get them back?

Absent-minded he didn't really care for what or how much his uncle bought. Just as the soldiers began carrying large packages back onto the ship the clouds of thought around him lightened. Still, he questioned his uncle, "Uncle did you know that Takai had some kind of family where he was living? I mean, I found a picture in his room, it showed an elderly couple with three boys in front of them, one of them being him."

Iroh eyed him curiously, "Takai only told me that he was found by kind people and raised by them. I didn't question any further and he never explained it."

"There's something fishy about this. I couldn't even determine where they're coming from. I mean, there clothing did not belong to either of the four nations. None of it. That kind of picture in general was unusual. It was not on normal paper, and it was not an ink painting. Also, this younger version of him, he sat in a wheelchair, missing his legs and his right arm, yet, he seemed happy. Wait, you bought a tsungi horn?", Zuko ended in a bewildered tone.

Iroh thought for a moment about what he just heard, it seemed, there was really more to his nephew than what he could openly see. Snapping back into reality, he said, "For music night on the ship. You had so much fun playing it as a child, also, I bought a zither for Takai. I don't know if he kept up his practice, but it'd be a nice thing for him to do while recuperating. Now, if we only had some woodwinds.", then his gaze fell upon an odd-looking ship, "Oh, this place looks promising!", he cheered as he dragged Zuko towards it.

At the ship, Lieutenant Jee had been informed, that the zither was destined for Takai and brought it to the injured boy's cabin. He placed it on a commode not too far from the bed in which the sleeping teenager laid, so he wouldn't have to reach far to get it. For a moment he stood there and watched Takai. He was glad that the boy was recuperating, and from what he heard, pretty fast at that. Many of the crew, including himself, grew quite attached to him. He didn't know what they had done, had he died saving them. Silently, he bowed before he left the room.

The next time Takai woke up, it was dark in his room. He looked around, but didn't call for anyone, since it was obviously night. He noticed a new object in his room. Curiously he got on his legs, which hurt, but not unbearably, and walked the few steps over to the lacquered box. Moving his hands above it, he wondered about it. Then, to confirm his suspicion, he lifted the upper half and saw the instrument. A genuine smile spread over his face, he felt like a child on Christmas day. This must've been bought by his uncle, or by Zuko under Iroh's guidance. His brother wouldn't put money in something like music. But Takai was incredibly thankful for it. He loved playing zither. It was the first, and probably only thing he had ever asked to get from Uncle Ben and Aunt May once he had his right hand back. He couldn't wait for the next morning to try it out. Excitedly he went back into his bed.

In his dream, he remembered how Zuko and he ran through the palace. As a four-years-old, everything seemed giant and mysterious. They finally ended up in the gardens near the pond, where their mother sat, a two-years-old Azula in her lap and their father next to her. He eyed the boys with an annoyed expression, seeing them toppling over each other. They laughed until they noticed the unfriendly gaze. "Boys.", it was just this one word, but it was enough, said in a strict enough tone that both immediately stood up, brushed the dust off their clothing and knelt.

Ursa chuckled, laying a slender hand on their father's sleeve, "Ozai, they're just children.", she tried to calm him. Azula meanwhile babbled happily something Takai couldn't understand, something with "Zuzu" and "Kai".

Ozai sighed heavily. Ursa smiled at the children, "Why don't we search for a hobby for them, something that should keep them busy from running through the halls? They could learn to play an instrument for example."

Takai thought, his father agreed only to get out of the situation. His parenting skills were quite limited in hindsight. He quickly decided that Zuko should learn tsungi horn. It was a common instrument for firebender, for it trained your breath.

For Takai, this wouldn't be important, so he was sent to learn zither, which was an instrument more connotated with non-benders. At first the boy flinched; zither was more known for female players. But as he started learning, he quickly got fond of the instrument. It helped him focus if he wanted to think about something, and if he didn't it would let his fantasy fly into a different world.

One day, he was alone as usual. None of his parents did often spend time with him. His father cared about Azula and her only, and his mother was usually taking care of Zuko. He decided, he didn't mind, even though, he did, like most children probably would. But he wanted to appear aloof, show his parents that their neglect didn't have an impact on him. So, he sat in the music hall all by himself and played zither, loosing himself into the sound. Suddenly he heard someone, just a little sound by the door. He stopped playing and turned towards it. His mother stood in the doorframe, tears were streaming down her face and she covered the lower half of her face with her hand. "Mom?", he asked, wondering what she did there and why she was crying.

Quickly he found himself picked up and wrapped into his mother's arms as she cried into his shoulder, holding him against her as if her life depended on it. Takai didn't understand a thing, he just heard her whisper tear-stricken, "My boy, my little baby. I'm so sorry."

Confused, he asked, "Mom, why are you crying? Did something happen? What are you sorry about?"

She sat him back on his legs, smiling through the tears, "It, it's nothing, sweetie. Just, just go on and have fun today, okay? I just want you to be happy."

In the present, he knew that she probably had been informed what was about to happen. Maybe she even tried to protect him, somehow, but to no avail. He shuddered, the next day guards came into his room and took him away, forever. Or at least, what seemed like it.

When he woke up, he felt content, almost happy. The sun was shining into his room and the temperature seemed fine. Carefully he stood up. It still hurt, but it was already better than tonight. Someone knocked on the door, then opened it. It was Doctor Ye. The middle-aged man was quite surprised to see his patient on his feet, but then smiled, "Good Morning, Takai. You really seem to be a lucky man."

Takai smiled at him, "I'm sure, this is all due to your treatment, Doc.", Ye sat him down on his bed again and took first his shirt and then the bandages off to check on his wounds.

As he began to spread a tincture over the burns, he spoke, "The one on your forehead is almost gone, the one on the cheek seems nastier though. Your throat seems to be okay and the one on your upper body is almost gone. Your forearms seem better as well, though, I think, your hands will probably need the longest time of all of the wounds to heal. Your legs have improved quite a bit as well, but you should have somebody help you walk for today, if you want to that is."

Takai chuckled as the doctor now began fastening new bandages around him, "I really want to come on deck today, I've been in this room for a few days now and I feel like it's suffocating me."

Ye nodded, smiling at the teenager, then he helped him dress. "I'll send someone from the crew over then."

Since his armor was irreparable, the breast plate especially would be hard to fix, and the underlying tunic was heavily damaged as well, Takai wore the ninja-outfit he had worn when he had come from New York. It was simply black, what was not a bad color choice in the Fire Nation.

He thought to himself, let's take mother's advice and be happy for today. Nevertheless, he wondered where Zuko and Iroh were. It was unlike his brother not to check on him, and he thought if maybe his uncle would enjoy a cup of tea with him.

A little while later there was a knock on the door and Lieutenant Jee stepped in. "Good morning, Lieutenant!", Takai greeted him happily, "When the doctor said he'd send someone of the crew over, I didn't expect you to come. To what do I owe this honor?"

Jee smiled, "It's good to see you among the living again, sir. Today, we're all a bit more relaxed. We made halt on this little port and yesterday your brother took the small boat, your uncle and a few soldiers and headed up the river, so, there's no Avatar hunting for us today."

Takai smiled back at the man, "Alright, maybe that's really a good thing. I'll join your leisure then. The Doc said I still need someone to help me walk today. Would you be so kind to accompany me to the main deck? I've spent enough time in this room."

Jee nodded, "Of course, sir. I'll go and prepare a place to sit and a table with tea first?"

Takai smiled, "Lieutenant, you can really read my thoughts."

Jee then headed out of the cabin. Takai walked over to his desk, more staggering around than really walking, but he had spotted something, he couldn't really name. But something bugged him. Nothing on the desk was really in any way in disorder, but then he opened the drawer, and saw that the necklace was missing. His good mood was instantly ruined. He knew who had taken it, no one else would dare to. He cursed and closed the drawer again angrily.

As Jee returned he wondered about the sudden change of tune, Takai suddenly seemed cold and distant. Nevertheless, the boy smiled at him, and answered his question with an, "Ah, it's nothing. Just something between brothers that Zuko and I need to talk about when he returns."

Takai walked onto the main deck, one arm constantly leaning on Jee's. He was not ashamed to be seen hurt and needing help. After all, he spent six years of his young life in a wheelchair. Walking like this was at least better than that. He was glad when they reached the place Jee had set up for him though. He helped himself to some tea and asked Jee if he wanted some. The Lieutenant declined politely. Then Takai asked if he could bring him the zither from his room.

The next few hours he spent sitting there, playing various songs, some he knew from his childhood, some he knew from China Town and some variations of popular songs, though he told himself not to sing along. It would only cause questions. Occasionally he drank a cup of tea, and every crew member that walked by made sure to greet him. Happily, he greeted back. At noon, the cook brought him something to eat, and sat down himself to keep him company. They talked a bit about unimportant things, before the older man left him again.

Around sunset, his brother and uncle returned. Zuko stomped over the walkway angrily, while Iroh's steps were almost silent. Takai did not turn around in his seat to greet them, he just continued to play his instrument, his expression hardened. Due to his playing, he couldn't make out the whole conversation between his relatives, just something about the boat and a lotus tile. Then Zuko's angry yelling stopped as he heard the melody that wavered around the main deck.

For a long moment Zuko stared at his twin's silhouette, a sharp, black figure against the setting sun. Only his forearms and hands were moving as he played an old Fire Nation song. Then the banished prince stepped closer, hesitantly at first. "Takai", he whispered. "How are you here?"

Takai chuckled, "Well, my room felt too tight, so Lieutenant Jee helped me up here. I'm sitting here for quite a while now. Do you want a cup of tea?"

Baffled, Zuko stared at his brother. Without thinking about it, he sat down next to Takai, mustering his twin, "You seem to be better.", was the first thing that came to his mind. Takai just continued to play his instrument, not looking at his brother, humming as an answer. "You're upset?", Zuko asked. He already knew the answer, but he didn't know why.

Suddenly Takai stopped playing, he chuckled humorlessly, his eyes fixated on the zither, "It seems, we have kobolds on this ship."

"What?", Zuko didn't know what his brother was referring to. Then he suddenly remembered him taking the necklace out of his brother's desk.

"Honestly, Zuko, of all the people, I didn't think you would take something from my room while I'm out.", Takai sounded angry, but not furious like Zuko sometimes was, it was rather a cold anger that was somehow much scarier.

"I needed it, and like you said, you were out, I couldn't ask you.", Zuko said hesitantly. He knew, his brother wouldn't really let that count as an excuse.

"Uh-huh. And what did you need it for?", Takai asked, watching his brother suspiciously.

"We just chased down the Avatar, and I used it to try and put some pressure on your precious girlfriend. But it didn't work anyway. Let me tell you, she's way too stubborn. She actually told me to jump in the river.", Takai raised an eyebrow at this.

Suddenly, a grin played around his lips, "And where is it now?", silently, Zuko handed him the necklace. It disappeared in Takai's sleeve quickly.

"In case you didn't notice, we lost the boat.", Zuko pouted, annoyed by his brother's affection for the enemy.

Eyes fixated at the horizon, Takai asked calmly, "Yeah, I noticed. How did you manage to do that?"

Zuko grumbled, arms crossed, "We were working with some pirates, the Avatar stole their boat and then they stole mine. It ended up going down a waterfall."

Takai grimaced, "I'm not going to build you a new one, forget it."

"I wasn't going to ask that. Wait, you could?", Zuko looked at him, surprised. Takai only rolled his eyes.

Takai was not really ready to forgive his brother everything just now. So, he stood up, brushing imaginary dirt off his clothing, "I'm tired, Sparky. I'll take some rest now. You know what uncle always says, a man needs his rest."

Zuko stared after his brother as the other teen made his way into the ship's interior. He could see that it took Takai all of his will not to ask anybody for help walking. He appeared way slower than usual, and there was something of a limp in the way his legs moved. Zuko watched with sorrow as his twin reached for the nearest wall, the second he left the deck. But then he thought, had he asked about the necklace, Takai had demanded to know upfront what for he needed it, and his twin always spotted it when he was lying. And he would've never approved the truth, not while he seemed to be so smitten with that peasant. Zuko sighed, why couldn't his brother realize that she was the enemy?