"Toph, what are you doing? I gave my word to Chief Hakoda to not be with you guys without a guard present." he hissed under his breath.

"Good thing, then, that I am taking you to where all the guards are, come on."

.

So yeh, over on Ao3 we're doing chapter teasers, so I'm including it here too.

Thank you all so much who reviewed and faved our story. It really made made our day.

Also sorry that posting this took way longer than I expected, again... But there were some real life things that got in the way and delayed us. But it's here now, so enjoy! .. hopefully

We authors certainly did have fun with it.

Chapter 19 Conflicts of Interests

The men of the tribe, with Aang coming along after Sokka's not-so-subtle nudge, followed Hakoda back into the Command Tent. The atmosphere inside was starting to get stifling as the day progressed. As they did so, Zuko managed to shuffle past the growing crowd, trying to find his minder.

Once all the men were seated, Hakoda began.

"I thank you all for being willing to reconvene, my son has told me much of his group's travels, and has made appropriate amends to those he has wronged," Sokka gulped awkwardly as the men's eyes briefly levelled his way, "but we must continue. With the Avatar found, and now with us, we can truly begin a plan of how we can end this war, once and for all. As you are aware, we have had contact with Generals Sung and Quán in the past, and they should honour our debt to them, so it is my intent to contact them immediately. As mentioned previously, General Fong was a secondary option, however, my son has informed us, the council, that he is not to be trusted, especially not around the Avatar. It is my thought that we level an assault, hopefully with the aid of the Council of Five, on the Fire Nation Capital, upon the day of the eclipse. It will be bloody, but I trust the Fire Nation will not see such an act coming. Are there any objections?"

Aang, who had grown increasingly green during the conversation, as he saw the nodding of heads agreeing to the bloodshed, tentatively raised his voice. "Umm… Chief Hakoda… Sir… Is there not another way?"

A murmur of derisive laughter rounded the table, with one member whispering that the Avatar must have liver-guts for a stomach if he couldn't even handle a little blood. Sokka was quick to object and nearly stood, before a level gaze from Hakoda stopped him. That caused another round of laughter to round the table before Hakoda raised his hand up, his gaze cold ice.

"Avatar Aang," he said, his eyes sombre, "this war has cost many lives, I do not want more bloodshed, but this may be the only chance, the only way, we can defeat Ozai once and for all."

"But Sir…" Aang interjected, "going in like that is bound to get you killed. I… I mean me and Katara can make fog, we could cover your ships, make them hard to see, sneak and confuse them. Or…Or we could make a storm, making it difficult for them to send out ships to attack you."

Some of the men around the table nodded appraisingly at Aang's suggestions, which Hakoda noticed.

"These are good suggestions young Avatar, but I fear it could wear you out, and we need you to end Ozai. I don't doubt my daughter's skill, but there is only so much she could do. Unless you have other suggestions, I ask politely for you to allow the plan to be formed, before you find ways to make our approach easier."

He turned back to the men, as Aang slumped in defeat, as he continued to the men, "A further issue we face is how to keep the force in line. I trust you all with my life, but how can we fully trust the Earth Kingdom's men? We have fought together before, but I have never seen an Earth Kingdom soldier take too kindly to water, and the last thing we need is ill-discipline or an unnecessary accident to stall us."

Bato interrupted, "That is to say nothing of the Council of Five. Last time we talked to them, General Duanmu I remember in particular tried to direct the whole attack. It is only due to your knowledge of the seas that got half of his troops out of there before they were swamped."

Grumbles of discontent rounded the table in memory of that incident as Hakoda again had to calm his men.

"This merely shows we must take direction on this most important of movements. Avatar Aang, as a neutral party, would you be willing to, upon forming the plan, deliver our intent to the Council of Five in Ba Sing Se? Sokka, you know our methods, and I am sure invoking my name might help you in some ways; those generals seem to love someone connected to someone else," a comment which left the room chuckling as Aang and Sokka nodded their heads.

"Good," Hakoda continued once the laughter had subsided, "with that settled, we need to know what we are going to be up against. The Earth Kingdom may be masters of their own terrain, but not once have they ever set foot on Fire Nation home soil. This map may help us to understand what we might be up against."

Bato laid the map from the day before down in front of the group once again, its detail evident, with many pictograms and signs clustering the image, "If you all recall, we captured this in one of our most recent raids, it clearly depicts the Fire Nation, we have them now." crowed Aniu, one of the younger tribesmen of the fleet.

All of the men gathered around the table, and peered once again at the map. A pause gathered around the group before letting out one combined exclamation.

"What the fuck are we looking at?"

00000

Meanwhile, outside the tent, Toph couldn't believe her ears. The men were truly befuddled by that map that they had found. She heard one tribesman asking if this symbol looked like a watch tower to another, who said no, and claimed that it clearly depicted a tree. She heard Bato ask Hakoda if that beach over there, by the three waves, would be big enough, which Hakoda felt it would be.

Some of the tribesmen, who were paying less attention to the overall proceedings, did notice a curiosity that there were no symbols over the Eastern Earth Kingdom, or the Water Tribes, which was most unusual for a military map, but they just pushed that aside, saying that surely all the Fire Nation's efforts had been focused towards the Western Earth Kingdom and home protections anyway.

All in all, it sounded like bedlam in there, and she was silently cackling, for all their claimed expertise, they couldn't read a simple map. Maps weren't her thing, and she would be even more lost with them, she admitted to herself, but come on, they literally had a guy who could read Fire Script right in camp, it cost nothing to ask. Speaking of him, where was Sparky, he'd been right around here not too long ago.

She spotted him rather quickly, his heartbeat was still significantly elevated relative to other people around him, even those that felt like they were doing odd jobs around the camp. She whisper-shouted his name, but either he was too far away, or she was too quiet, so she struck the dirt, silently thanked her ancestors that the desert had improved her 'sight', and made her way over to Zuko.

00000

Zuko, after that strange ritual with Sokka, had made his way over to the dishes, as Bato had instructed him to find some useful work to do: There was a clear mound of dishes to be done, and no one was doing them. Meanwhile, his mind struggled to comprehend the cultural differences.

The handing and returning of the items was particularly bizarre to him. Back home, he could remember that the Fire Lord would be in charge of matters of personal grievance, or at least the local Fire Sage. They would take a token of the conflict, and offer it to Agni. If the flame stayed pure, the crime was resolved, if it changed colour, each colour could mean something different, and if it went out, well Agni had spoken, and must have payment. The approach had gone out of fashion, especially under Sozin's reforms of the Fire Sages, but as far as he knew, it could still be used as a last defence.

So busy was he caught in his thoughts and cleaning the dishes, that he didn't notice Toph until she was almost upon him. Nukilik hadn't reacted to Toph's approach, and, adding to her subterfuge, she'd come up out of Zuko's line of sight.

"Sparky, there you are, been looking for you," she exclaimed loudly.

"Why?" Zuko queried at her, a worried frown on his face, Toph looked like she was on a mission.

"I need you to talk some sense into these warriors, Sparks, I'm sure whatever you're doing can wait a little." She said, taking a surprised Zuko with her.

To both their surprise there was little commotion about Zuko being dragged across camp by Toph, but even if his guard didn't see an issue with this, yet, Zuko recognized Toph's body language, he had to know what was going on, quickly, before she dragged him right into trouble.

"Toph, what are you doing? I gave my word to Chief Hakoda to not be with you guys without a guard present." he hissed under his breath.

"Good thing, then, that I am taking you to where all the guards are, come on." She said, as Zuko started to realise that she was taking him back to the Council tent.

He stopped abruptly, the movement jerking Toph to a stop also.

"I am not going in there, Toph." he said, his tone serious.

"Why not? They need you. You won't believe some of the stuff they are saying about this map they have found. It is obvious they don't have a clue what they are doing."

"I said no, Toph, that is final," said Zuko, his tone showing his growing frustration.

"What, and leave the invasion of your homeland unattended and done by fools who haven't gotten the faintest idea what they are doing?" she scoffed, heedless to Zuko's growing anger.

"Toph, I have said to them what I can without it being obvious I helped them. Now let me go." He growled.

Toph gulped slightly but continued on "You got to help, it is your people's lives on the line, our lives, Sparky, you must." she urged.

For a second, Zuko's resolve wavered, and Toph took the chance immediately. She determinedly half-dragged the teenager the last few steps into the tent, his frustration growing by the moment.

00000

There was a commotion outside the tent, though the words were muffled. It sounded like Toph and Zuko were loudly arguing. Other voices mixed in only as the tent flap opened and Toph was half dragging, half pushing a loudly resisting Zuko into their midst.

"Let me go, let me go!" Zuko was pulling on his right arm which was held in the little earthbenders iron vice-like grip, his indignant, anger-laced, tones more the teenager than the Prince the Water Tribe men had so far seen.

"Toph, ugh, I'm not supposed to be here, I don't want to be here. I'm not helping you destroy my country. You know that. Why are you doing this? Let me go." He jerked again, looking at the surrounding men wide-eyed, his frustration at Toph slowly fading to embarrassment as they came to a halt in the middle of the tent, right next to the big map, which was by now on the ground. Zuko pointedly stared anywhere but there, his hand reaching to rub the back of his neck. He tried to break Toph's grip on his arm again, and this time Toph finally let him go.

"Uh," he quickly said, awkwardly gulping. "I didn't want to come here, she made me. I tried to stop her, but she would have none of it, Toph has always been the immovable rock in the group." She tried levelling a punch at him which he dodged. "You don't need me in here, I'll be on my way. Just escort me outside, thanks..." he finished, lowering his face, the bushy new hair, hiding an awkward blush.

Hakoda couldn't help but look over to Bato, Zuko looked every bit the teenager he was, the situation was just too strange. They both couldn't quite hold their amusement off their expression, even if they could sense the underlying tension the teen was radiating off like heat.

Then Toph spoke up. "You people are lost with the terrain, he..." she jerked a thumb at Zuko, jabbing him in the side "...can help. He can read your stupid map. I know it's not right to force you to be in here, Zuko, but man up, do you want these men to die because they suck at reading maps?"

That got some murmurs, and also some shouts of protests.

"Look, I don't know shit about reading,..." Toph addressed the protesting ones, waving her hand in front of her bangs for added effect. "... or writing for that matter, so I don't know what the problem with reading your Fire Nation map is, but I'm sure he can help you out."

"I'm not helping you destroy my country."

"Explaining the map won't destroy your country."

"Toph, I'm serious."

Seeing that that squabble wasn't gonna get them anywhere, Sokka interrupted just a breath earlier than Hakoda, who would have done the same thing.

"We don't want to destroy your country, we just want the war to end, you could make a difference if we don't go in blind, sorry Toph," She huffed but made no comment "Your intel can save people, so we attack where it actually makes sense to attack and not just destroy a ton of places unnecessarily along the way."

"You are trying to kill my father."

Again there were derisive sounds from a couple of the men in the circle.

"I don't want to kill him." Aang announced in a clear, determined voice.

"Good luck with that, Aang." Zuko said humorlessly.

"Can you at least tell us what kind of map this is?" Sokka pleaded and shoved the map into Zuko's hands.

Zuko took one look at the title, and to everyone's surprise, ended up with a stifled snort. "Well, if you want to attack tourist spots, then you are all set."

"What?" Sokka screeched.

"You got yourself a tourist map" Zuko said as if that was obvious, his embarrassed frustration turning to wry amusement, his gold eyes glinting, though he was still very much tense and stressed underneath.

Again, some men wanted to protest, but Hakoda sent them a glare.

"Great," Sokka said in the meanwhile. "Which places have you been to, which can you recommend?"

"Nice try, but no. I won't let you attack places because my family just so happened to once take a holiday there, you're more likely to hurt civilians than find the Fire Lord in any of these places." he said with a tone of royal dismissal, his hand slashing the air.

Yeah, probably high society ones, potentially a couple of Generals, Sokka kept the thought that that wouldn't be such a bad thing in his books to himself. "Come on. What harm can it do to know a couple of inns?"

"You raiding lodgings for supplies, maybe? Force them to feed and house you? I don't know."

Hakoda carefully kept quiet and let Sokka do this questioning. Zuko was less wary around him, surprisingly, than he would be talking to any of his men, and if Sokka could get information out of Zuko in this minimally threatening way, then he was all for it.

"Yeah, right," Sokka was saying, "because we can do that without anyone detecting and reporting us."

Zuko didn't reply, he reluctantly took another look at the tourist map.

"Well, these are inns. Those are playgrounds." Zuko set out reluctantly. "This spot has sightings of whale-squids. That's a zoo."

Sokka quickly grabbed a piece of charcoal and paper and stepped up close next to Zuko, trying to see what he was pointing at, to take notes for the symbols. Zuko stopped talking and eyed him.

"What the… Is that supposed to mean something?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to take notes on what you say, can you show me the second one again, what are playgrounds anyway?"

"Your handwriting is atrocious. And playgrounds are places for kids to play. Those are good for the kids to learn how to climb and keep balance and such."

By now, the men had clued in on Hakoda's example and were just watching the moment unfold, while Toph smugly stood behind Zuko, satisfied that they had forgotten to send her out.

"Uhm, what are those signs sprinkled all over?" Sokka was asking.

"Volcanos"

"And those scribbles beside it?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Ah come on." Sokka tried again.

"No."

"What does it say here?" Sokka tried another strategy, hoping Zuko would give him more references on the strange letters on the paper.

"That you can't read." Zuko said with another snipe to Sokka's 'not-so-obvious' attempts to get him to spill something that would help him decode the writing. "Enough."

"Come on, Sparks, at this rate, we will all walk to our deaths." Toph interfered. "Do you want us dead?"

"No, of course not, but I also don't want you attacking my country, my people."

"Face it, the attack will happen either way," Toph said bluntly. "And the Fire Nation will keep attacking us as well. You can at least prevent unnecessary death. We don't want to destroy the country… we just want to put an end to this crazy reign…. You can't tell me the war isn't hurting the Fire Nation at all."

"You are asking me to commit treason."

"You are already considered a traitor." Sokka pointed out.

"But I'm not."

"I know," Sokka admitted, but then went on with his confrontation, "but I have read the posters. Have you? There is no way they will take you back. It sounds like they are hoping someone else will dispose of you for them. Zuko, face it."

"Shut up, I know." snapped Zuko, his stance getting defensive.

Sokka didn't feel it was enough. "And do you realise what that means? Azula will have the throne. I remember how you reacted to her name. So I know you know that is not gonna be a good thing."

"So? Are you telling me, you'd rather have me on the throne? You hate me, and anyway, as you so kindly pointed out, I'm considered a traitor, that pretty much means I'm removed from succession all together. What are you expecting me to do?"

Sokka sighed. "I don't hate you. And yeah, if I could pick who gets the throne between the both of you, I'd definitely rather have you on there," he claimed. "You have a conscience. I am not so sure your sister does. You do care about civilians. Does your dad and sister? Cause I've got the impression that to them, everyone is just a pawn."

Zuko chuckled humorlessly. "And now you are trying to make me your pawn in this, too. I am a prisoner here. I refuse to be used as a well of information and then tossed aside, or worse…"

"I won't let them do that." Toph exclaimed.

"You aren't even supposed to be here, Toph." Zuko crossed his arms in resignation.

"They'd be stupid to exclude me again. Chief, how are you gonna fund this endeavour? Do you know who I am? I can get my family to help you out. And they have connections to high-end trade up into Ba Sing Se and the Fire Nation Capitol itself, though they keep the latter part quiet."

"Are you suggesting invading the Fire Nation with trade ships?" Zuko interrupted. "Are you nuts? Do you have any idea what backlash this will give your family if it backfires? And it will. They aren't just letting anyone into Fire Nation waters."

"See? We need someone like you, who tells us what can be done, so things work out okay."

"Yeh, sure," he sneered. "What you need is someone you can trust, I'm not trustworthy. What you are planning to do goes against everything I've been working for in the past." There was definite anger in Zuko's voice now.

It didn't escape Hakoda's notice that the Prince had used past tense here. Zuko's was hard to grasp, but this conversation had been enlightening. It had shown Hakoda quite a bit of Zuko's mindset, and its potential weak points. It was time to step in.

"Zuko, where do you see the Fire Nation in a couple of years?... What is the conscription age in the Fire Nation nowadays? Do you realise what that means? Do you know what the war costs? And keep in mind that it has been going for a hundred years.-"

"I don't know what the war is like? Me?!" Zuko interrupted. "I was raised to know the war, from every man, every battalion, down to every grain of wheat that was made into their bread. I was cast out then at 13, in a naïve, desperate bid to find the Avatar to appease those who cast me out. I have been to every Air Temple. I have buried the Air Nomads, I have been to both Poles. I have laid adrift in Northern waters in the aftermath of the Siege of the North, in the wake of a Great Spirits wrath. I have walked and sailed the length of the Earth Kingdom. I have starved, been beaten and more. I have seen that the war is not clean or pretty on either side. I know this war better than whatever dolled up idea of royalty you have, Chief Hakoda." Zuko levelled his stare at the Chief, his scar prominent in the embers light, his other eye glowing like the fire he wielded.

00000

Something must have happened while Katara had been to the outhouse: Toph and Zuko were both out of sight, Nukilik, the man supposed to be guarding Zuko, was still there, however. And what he told her, well… while she trusted Toph to have Zuko's back, and her father probably wouldn't let anything happen, hearing about her dragging him into a war meeting really did not make her worry less. Furthermore, she felt left out once more. Toph and her needed to stick together as girls, and fight for more rights. It felt unfair that Toph had forced her way into the tent without her.

Toph had been handling the situation very different from the outset though, listening in on the war meetings, prodding Zuko to help those inside the tent, and so on. Katara had tried to be responsible and take a slightly more diplomatic approach, by planning to speak to her father in private when he had time for her. Zuko's reaction to her public opposition to her father was still on her mind, and though she knew that she had nothing to worry about with her father, she did see Zuko's point in possibly getting more resistance if she tried forcing the Chief's hand in public on this matter. A Chief needed some things to just run smoothly in difficult situations like these. They were in the middle of a war, and Hakoda did have to react quickly to Sokka's news…

It would take time for dad to not only be willing to let them into war meetings but also, to take a stand for it in front of his men. They needed Hakoda's approval to work from. Seeing how he reacted, it might take some convincing to get it. She didn't quite know how to go about it yet.

She waited for Toph and Zuko to be kicked out of the tent. But no one came out and time stretched on. Katara, in the lull, was reminded of how much her view of Zuko had changed as her worry kept growing. She knew he hadn't wanted to go in there, to get involved, but it seemed that he was forced to anyway. It reminded her of when he'd admitted to thinking that he was unlucky. Maybe she could see why. Not that he was entirely innocent, but she could see how life just kept throwing things at him.

She needed a distraction.

00000

It turned out that the Prince had a thing for dramatic wording when he became upset. Hakoda had known that the Prince might react in a sensitive manner to those questions, and he hadn't really expected any answers. All he had wanted was to verbally shake the boy to open his eyes. He hadn't quite been prepared for that speech. Buried the Air Nomads? Drifted in northern waters in the aftermath of the Siege of the North? The tension was tangible. Hakoda wondered how literal he had meant burying the Air Nomads. The Prince might not look like much, but Hakoda was starting to realise that he'd underestimated him because of that and his initial non-confrontational behaviour.

"Prince Zuko, I've never seen your homeland, but I know the civilians take the brunt in war. If the Fire Lord disregards his people the way he has disregarded his own son, then the day will come where you don't have people left to care for."

Zuko stared at Hakoda with wide eyes. Hakoda knew Zuko wasn't ready. He knew the Fire Lord's word was law, Fire Nationals were taught not to question it. And Zuko was the Fire Lord's own son. Hakoda didn't want to know how warped Zuko's sense of fatherhood was, but he'd seen enough hints in the past two days to figure. He focused on Zuko, trying to capture his eyes, but the Prince was not looking at him.

"Look, I know you are in between an ice floe and an avalanche. And I know it will be hard for many of us to put our trust in you. It's why I disagreed with involving you in the first place. But my children, The Avatar and Toph do all seem to trust you to a certain degree, and they are right. We need information, we need knowledge to put a plan together. If you really care for your country, then think about its future with Ozai and Azula ruling it."

Zuko was shaking his head, he'd raised his arms halfway as if to touch and hold his face, before abruptly pulling them down and steeling his expression.

"You could seriously harm us and our operation if you decide to lead us astray. We may not have a way to verify your information. It is not my goal to destroy the Fire Nation, maybe some people want that, but I do not. But someone needs to put an end to this war, it is hurting everyone."

People were quiet as they saw Zuko gather himself, he stared Hakoda straight into his eyes. The scar visible for all to see.

"And after I tell you what you want to know, what then?" The Prince, not the teenager, spoke. "Let me guess: I will know too much and be stuck here until you lose, and then what, someone will blame and then execute me."

"I won't leave you here," Toph repeated.

Zuko just sighed. "If things only were that simple…"

"I understand your reluctance, Zuko." Hakoda now spoke. "Those are fair worries. Under normal circumstances, that might very well have been a course of action. However, for one, you're already involved, and for two, I doubt we will be able to stop the Avatar and Toph from taking you with them when the time comes. But you seem to be a man of your word, so I'd rather have an agreement with you by the time you will leave with them. You can make the difference, not only for us but also for your people."

"How? I won't be someone's puppet in this war." Zuko spat. "Not again."

The anger in Zuko's voice and eyes almost felt like a tangible push, that had Hakoda involuntarily slide one foot back a bit. The teen stood there in a way that screamed of authority. Very unlike the boy who had been dragged into this tent by Toph.

"I don't want to make you a puppet. I was just say–"

"Don't try to trick me, you know who I am, it doesn't work." Zuko coldly snapped back.

Hakoda had not been prepared for this either, that affronted poisonous staccato. That boy expected to be manipulated and tricked from the get-go, no amount of reassuring would change that, he needed arguments.

"You mentioned civilians. With your intel, we should be able to attack where we need to without destroying anything else."

"Who says that you, or those working with you on this invasion, will not do so anyway. And what about after the war? You and the Earth Kingdom will want reparations. It will be the civilians, as well, who take the brunt of that. You are asking me to reveal deliberately what I know of the military network and its weaknesses. What assurance do I have that you won't use this knowledge to get revenge on the Fire Nation as a whole?"

"I, Hakoda, Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, vow that within my range of power, I will see to it that any agreement we negotiate will be upheld, Prince Zuko."

"I'm no longer a Prince though." Zuko stubbornly said.

"You can make a difference for your people. You still are of royal blood. If you remain passive and do nothing, you will essentially leave both your friends and your people to the Spirits to toy with."

"And providing you with information is better? I'll leave my people at your mercy, as well as the spirits', it's not like I have much sway with them. And as I said before, I do not trust a twelve-year-old to handle spirits. I've had my run-ins with them, the Spirits are savage."

"You still have a duty to your country."

"Not since I was thirteen, no, not really."

"What do you mean?"

"First I was banished, as you all know, which meant that if I ever got caught on Fire Nation soil, it would be considered trespassing, and they could do with me as they saw fit and it would be considered just. If I was lucky, they'd turn me to whatever authorities were close and I'd be executed unless I had a valid defence, as per terms of the agreement."

Zuko's tone was certain and his words fluid. It made Hakoda feel slightly ill and, moving a cursory look around the group, he wasn't alone. The Prince had mentioned his banishment before, but thirteen? This was the second time the Prince had mentioned that age. Banished at thirteen, he inwardly shuddered. Before the Prince continued, he also wondered what could be valid as a defence. He took a side glance at Aang, and thought he might know.

"And now, I'm considered a traitor, as you know, and so is my Uncle, the elder brother of the Fire Lord. I'm not safe anywhere, a fugitive, and if caught, my fellow countrymen will have every right to execute me on sight, no trial. The Fire Nation blames me and my uncle for the disaster that was the Siege of the North, in light of Zhao's demise. I know my father wants me dead. I'm not daft. For him, this is most convenient, a reason to finally give the order without repercussions. Getting rid of Uncle and me both. Chances are, that, if I'd be caught, I'd be taken back to the Capital for a faux trial, so they could make the execution public and spin their story more easily. My sister certainly tried to get us on her ship for exactly that. We only narrowly escaped."

Hakoda swallowed emptily upon hearing that. His own family. He'd known that Crown Princess Azula was bad news, but this was horrific.

"The only way I can get back in the line of succession is if the Fire Lord reinstates me as successor. Or, if the Fire Lord accepts my challenge to an Agni Kai. And I'll leave it up to your imagination how likely that is, even provided that I get close enough to talk without getting captured first. My father has made my appearance rather obvious after all."

Some men drew in a shocked breath, and Hakoda, too, certainly hadn't expected this admission to come so forwardly, or so devoid of any emotion. It took Hakoda a moment more to process all that the not-Prince had said, as an involuntary shudder went through the whole group of assembled tribesmen at his words, especially the last comment. As horrific as the things he'd mentioned were, it gave Hakoda the distinct feeling that those things at least had helped Zuko get away from that horrible man's influence. Getting away from such a cruel figure for the past three or so years had quite possibly had preserved the boy's compassion. Despite all this and being removed from succession and being made an outlaw, this young man still cared deep down about what happened to his people.

"Zuko," Hakoda said carefully. "I am sorry to hear you calling people who treat you like this your family, however, one does not choose his birth family. I understand that you don't see yourself able to negotiate a treaty, but I do see that you still very much care what happens to your people. You still have the knowledge of your former status, but if and how you utilise that knowledge to help your people, that is your choice."

Zuko was still staring at him critically, his brow creased in thought, and Hakoda had to refrain from making more arguments in their favour. Finally, the boy's eyes shifted away, slightly fidgeting as he contemplated, when they returned, they seemed more reluctant:

"Give me time to think about it."

"Very well. You may leave, please take Toph with you."

That ended in a loud protest from the earthbender girl, but Zuko gently took her shoulders and exhaustedly said "Toph, please." and the girl let herself be led out, still huffing.

Only after they both had left did conversation pick back up in the tent, quickly requiring Hakoda to step in and take charge of the discussion.

"I know not everyone is happy with my decision to speak out that vow, and it isn't said that Zuko will agree, but the information he shares could be invaluable."

"And how will we know that he doesn't betray us and knowingly lead us in a trap?"

"He pointed out himself that he isn't trustworthy." another man said.

"That he ended up here in our camp is circumstantial at best. I'm not saying to trust him blindly, but that boy didn't come prepared. He had no time to work out any plans in advance. The reason he asked to leave camp wasn't to report us, it was to get away from us because he doesn't want to be locked up and hurt." Hakoda pointed out.

"Hakoda and I have been able to observe him the past two days," Bato continued, "plus, we both have had some interesting conversations with him during that time, and he has stayed consistent. He hasn't made any attempts to gain our trust, nor to attain information on us. What he is worried about instead, is, that we will try to torture him for information. That boy is no stranger to torture, I don't think he would give up information easily, if at all. He is devoted to his country, despite him being cast out."

"In his own way, he is trying to protect it. But don't misunderstand, he is aware of the kind of family he has, today was the second time he has indicated this. Last time, he even went as far as to call his father a megalomaniac." Hakoda said.

"Seriously?" Sokka asked, raising his voice in disbelief.

"Yes, he does seem to have a flair for dramatic speeches. But back on subject: Family ties aren't easy to disregard, and he is worried about what will happen if we manage to remove Ozai, and possibly Azula from power. They keep the Fire Nation unified, and creating such a power vacuum could easily end in a civil war. It would make the country even more vulnerable to other Nations seeking retribution."

"That… actually does make sense," Sokka murmured.

"Indeed, his reasoning is sound in that regard. Let us conclude this meeting for now, as I don't think any of us have proper focus right now." Hakoda said with a sigh, his head still reeling.

00000

Zuko stepped a couple of steps away from the tent and took a deep breath, drawing in air that tasted of sea and rainfall. Toph stomped her foot and let out an excited shout.

"Sparky, you rocked in there!" She tried grabbing his arm, but he ripped it away.

"Never, ever, do that again…" He said, voice cold and poisonous. "Don't ever drag me into a situation like that again. You had no right."

"But…"

"You forced me in there. Against my will. Against my agreement with the Chief. You disregarded my wishes, you took away my choice… you disregarded any thought of what getting involved means with my status here."

He was getting worked up, seething. Toph heard it in his voice.

"Just because you saved me, and I owe you a life debt, doesn't mean that you can pull shit like that on me. Especially not with anything involving my country. Leave me alone."

Zuko stalked off, leaving a distraught Toph behind.

0

.

A/N Nov/Dez 22:

Ystävä: As seems to be the theme, we had to split the chapter, cause it was getting too long… again. Thanks to this, you got a bit of a cliffy, oops.

The most challenging part for me, while writing this chapter (and the next), was, that I had to write it out of order. We had agreed on which scenes we were writing together, but finding time isn't always easy, so I wrote what I could on my own first, and we filled in the co-written parts later. That's also one reason why we wrote past this chapter already and decided to split it up afterwards.

So yeh, Toph and Zuko are having a falling out and Zuko got some major things to think about. So does everyone else, really.

And I'm sure you've got some too, so please share :)

On another note, besides proofreading, ML and I also had a big storyboard session and pretty much mapped out not only the rest of this story but also the sequel. Can't say much more, but we're super excited to transform it into writing.

ML8991: Hey all, yeh another split chapter unfortunately, but that does mean that the next chapter will be ready very shortly for you guys to enjoy (I am hoping that it can be wrapped up in a seasonal bow, but we shall have to see :).

As Ystävä has said, this was definitely an interesting chapter to approach, but although it took longer because of it, I am very happy how it turned out. We also explored some different methods of writing, with there being parts when we would "play" as one of the characters. This was a bit more rudimentary, but we definitely learned as we did so.

Sorry that we seem to be stuck in the Water Tribe camp currently, but I promise we have an end in sight for that, and we can move to our next big arch, in which we have lots of things planned, hopefully they will be as fun for you to read as we have imagined they could be, so please stick around, there is plenty to come :).

Thank you all for your support, it is great to read your reviews and get your insights, so please don't hesitate to send us questions or your views, we find all extremely useful and helpful for our writing process. Take care all, and see you in the next chapter.