"One last time. You're sure you've never been to this town and they aren't going to chase us off with pitchforks and torches?"

"I've never been chased anywhere by people with torches. Firebender."

"Right. And the pitchforks?"

"It's a landlocked town with no Avatar-related history from the last five hundred years. I've never been anywhere near."

Sokka and Zuko were both pretty confident that Azula's tank couldn't get through the swamp, but everyone was certain they didn't want to sit around and find out, so Katara had only taken the time to stabilise Aang and soothe the worst of Appa's burns, before they'd taken off again.

They'd lost all their perishables when Appa had crashed, including their drinking water. She'd filled her cooking pot with swamp water, which wasn't fit to drink or heal and which it turned out she couldn't bend the silt out of; but with some trial and error, they figured out a solution. First, she made some of it into an ice lid. Next, Zuko boiled the pot, until all the brackish water evaporated and then condensed on the underside of the lid. She then cleaned the residue out of the pot and melted the condensate: purified water. She'd taken the opportunity to heal their bruises and scrapes borne of Appa's crash.

Have we been getting hurt more ever since I found out I could heal?

It'd be such a boy thing to be more reckless because they know I can fix them up after.

I should pretend to have a healing chi blockage, just so they're more careful.

See how long before they call your bluff. They'll all be in pieces by suppertime.

She'd washed and healed her own fall injuries just fine, and for Sokka and Suki. Zuko had shooed her off, baked the mud on his skin and crumbled it off, and unconvincingly acted like he wasn't hurt. If he wanted to be an ass about it, that was his problem, and she'd rather focus on Aang. But either Katara had skipped out on healing training too early, or it was just flat-out impossible, because no matter how hard she tried, the ugly red lightning scar remained.

Aang's the anti-Zuko in so many ways, but they're alike in so many others. Now they both have great big scars given to them by Zuko's family, that I can't fix.

I can't, but that doesn't mean it's unfixable. After this is all done, I'll take Aang to bathe in the Spirit Oasis. I know I shouldn't take it for granted and that's probably a bit sacrilegious, but he's the Avatar, I'm sure Tui and La will let him.

A case in point of him being the anti-Zuko. I don't think the Northern Water Tribe would be happy about Zuko doing that.

I don't even think Zuko would be happy about Zuko doing that.

She stole a glance at him. He sat cross-legged, his back to the wind, a tiny flame cupped in his hands, an expression of intense concentration on his face. Another similarity was that both were impervious to cold, so he must have been trying to refine his firebending somehow. A split second later, his eyes flicked up to meet hers; his expression changed to annoyance, and she looked away, then, reconsidering, returned the look, You got a problem? He frowned at her for a moment, then returned to his bending meditation.

She looked over at Aang instead. He'd taken a break from steering Appa, leaving that to Sokka, and was sitting with Suki, talking animatedly about fans, which Katara supposed made sense, fans being a sort of amateur airbending. He'd taken his new scar in stride, once Katara had handled the worst of it, and even seemed more cheerful for it.

"It makes you think, things could be a lot worse, right?" he'd said.

It was late afternoon, the sun most of the way to the horizon, the sunset casting yellow and pink streaks on long clouds. Bursts of wind had passed throughout during the day, occasionally buffeting them with turbulence.

Appa swooped down in a graceful curve and alighted on a grassy knoll, where a bunch of curious children was already gathering. Zuko snuffed out his little flame, strapped on a rice hat he'd picked up somewhere, and buckled on his swords, because why wouldn't you arm yourself with lethal weapons to talk to children; everyone else gathered up their things, and they hopped off and toward the kids.

"Hello everyone!" Aang said. "I'm the Avatar, this is my flying bison Appa, and these are my friends!"

She'd tried giving a speech that one time at the prison platform with Haru. It had failed horribly, and ever since then, she hadn't really had the stomach to try public speaking again. Aang, on the other hand, could fearlessly walk up to a crowd of strangers, say hello, and instantly be friends with all of them. She was almost more impressed by that than his airbending. He zoomed around on his air scooter, and the children started exclaiming in delight.

Zuko the anti-Aang sidled off and out of the group and cast an awkward look at them, before heading into town.

Sure, split the party, that always goes well.

We haven't eaten today. And I guess he didn't eat yesterday, either. We could stand to get some dinner, or breakfast, whatever you'd call it.

She took a couple steps toward him, almost without noticing. Aang, Sokka, and Suki noticed, though.

"Hey, we have to get something to eat," Aang told the assembled kids. "But we'll see you again in the morning!"

They caught up to Zuko and headed in, finding a crowded bazaar, a crisscross of streets full of restaurants and markets doing a fine trade. The rest of the Gaang looked for snack vendors, while she looked for bigger sacks of rice, vegetables, and hopefully some meat. As they searched, another kid ran up to them.

"Hey, d'you need somewhere to stay?" he asked, beaming breathlessly. "Dad runs an inn, an' I think there's a couple of rooms free."

"That'd be great!" Aang said.

The kid grinned toothily. "It's over on the south side o' town." He pulled a business card from a pocket.

"Thanks! We'll head right on – Hey!"

Aang had spun on a dime to look at a girl shopping at a food stall beside them. The girl turned, a plucked duck pig in her hand.

"Uh," she said, freezing in place.

Haven't we seen her before somewhere?

"I can't believe it!" Aang said, his face breaking out into the biggest grin Katara had ever seen on him, which was saying something. "You're the girl from the circus! I knew it!"

The one he thought was an Air Nomad?

Katara compared Aang and the girl. She was a few years older, dressed in Earth Kingdom green, and had long hair and an eye-catching figure that her clothes did very little to cover, but she had the same grey eyes and round face. Katara privately thought that all non-Water Tribesfolk looked awfully similar, but even so, she could have been convinced the girl was Aang's older sister, or more likely great-great-grand-niece.

That would explain where we've seen her: in Aang.

"Uh," she said again, her eyes darting to either side. "I– I've never been to a circus."

"What?" Aang said, his expression faltering. "But – oh. If a Fire Nation spy heard …"

The girl put the duck pig down and made to sidle away. "You must have me confused for someone else. I should be going –"

"Wait," Aang said, looking around. They were in the middle of a crowded street, and passers-by kept turning to stare. Katara was proud of her Water Tribe skin and clothing, but between those and Aang's bright orange and yellow robe, they tended to attract a lot of attention. "Okay, not here, but can we talk? Please?"

"I don't …"

Zuko, who had wandered out of sight, darted back over. "It's safe," he told her, softly, almost tenderly.

His expression was unlike Katara had ever seen before, one of intense longing. A parched man at an oasis.

Seriously? Since when does Zuko get besotted with pretty girls?

You mean, he isn't besotted with us, so why would he be interested in her? Come on. What we wouldn't give for a figure like hers.

Oh shush. I was starting to think he was gay. He spent years on that all-men ship, you know. And he's seen girls other than us before.

Not one with looks like hers, he hasn't.

The girl hesitated, then swallowed and nodded. "Okay," she said.

Aang led them down an alleyway between two buildings. "My name's Aang," he said. "I'm the Avatar."

"Y-yeah," the girl said nervously. "I've heard. Of you. And your … Avatar … ness."

"What's your name?" he asked.

"It's – Lee."

"What a coincidence," Aang said, "so's his!", of Zuko.

Lee and Zuko looked into each other's eyes, silver and gold.

"It's – great to meet you," Zuko said awkwardly.

"Yeah, you too," she said with a tiny smile.

See his body language? Nervous, but open? He really likes her. And she likes him.

You can shut up.

There's a one-liner in here somewhere. 'I don't think this is what your father meant when he told you to get an Air Nomad'? Let's workshop it.

I said shut up!

Aang looked from Zuko to Lee, put out at being ignored. "You're an Air Nomad, aren't you?"

She shook her head. "My family comes from the Air Nomads," she said. "But that was a long time ago."

"Not for me," he said. "This is great! Our Lee said there were survivors, but you're the first we've found. Can you airbend?"

"No," she said. "Well – um, no, I can't."

"I can teach you," Aang said, his eyes lighting up. "All Air Nomads can bend at least a little. Are you staying with other Air Nomads? Forget the inn, we can meet them tonight!"

Lee's eyes widened.

"Um," she said. There was an awkward pause. "Well, u-um, you see …"

"What she's trying to say," Zuko said, "but is too polite, is back off. The Air Nomads in the Earth Kingdom survived by keeping their heads down and not attracting attention. And nothing attracts attention like the Avatar."

"Ah," Lee said. "Yes. U-uh, sorry, but yes, no, I can't have visitors."

"What's wrong with the Earth Kingdom?" Aang asked.

"It was the Earth Kingdom that purged most of the Air Nomads," Zuko said.

"What?!" Aang, Katara, and Sokka said in unison.

"No we didn't," Suki said indignantly, "that's a lie, and a stupid one. It was the Fire Nation that attacked the Air Nomads, under the Great Comet. Everyone knows that."

"Sure. And what happened after that?"

"There was no after that. You –" her eyes flicked to Lee "– you know the story. They wiped them all out."

"And you never saw another one?"

"There weren't any to see. Just Fire Nation spies dressed up like them. It was pretty stupid of them, since they couldn't bend, so we could always pick them out right away. That's why we didn't trust you until you showed you could bend, when you came to Kyoshi Island," she added to Aang.

Oh jeez. We weren't the first people you threatened to feed to the unagi, were we.

"You're half right," Zuko said. "Fire Lord Sozin offered citizenship to the Air Nomads who'd surrendered, in return for service. But the ones who surrendered were mostly non-benders, so they weren't very convincing."

"All Air Nomads were benders," Aang disagreed. "But if they joined in the war, that meant they'd given up their spirituality, which would stop them from bending properly." He frowned and looked away. "That's even worse. The survivors were made to help the guy who attacked them, they lost their spirituality, their bending … and then even the Earth Kingdom turned on them."

Katara saw his lightning scar in her mind's eye.

Aang, you'd better beat him. Because if you don't, I will.

Aang turned to Lee. "I know it's dangerous, but … please. We've travelled the entire continent, and you're the only Air Nomad we've seen. I don't know how many are left. This might be my only chance. No-one's going to attack you if you're with me."

"I, I can't," she said, shrinking back against the alley wall. "I can't."

Aang opened his mouth, clearly looking for another argument or something that would make her relax.

"What if," Zuko began, then swallowed hard. "What if I had dinner with you? I could talk to the people you're with, make arrangements. I could get your address and tell it to him after war is over. I know how to be discreet."

Suki let out a bark of laughter, but Lee brightened. "That would be perfect," she said. "Yeah!"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Katara said.

"And I don't think I take orders from you," Zuko replied.

Katara gave him an unimpressed look, then sniffed disdainfully and looked away. "Just get back before the inn locks up for the night. It'd be such a shame if you had to sleep outside and get rained on."

"Sure thing, Mom," he said.

"But …" said Aang.

"No buts," said Zuko, "you're supposed to be looking for an earthbending teacher. Remember? How much trouble we went through because of how important it is?"

"Even just for one night?"

"Especially not just one night. You're supposed to be thinking about earthbending, not Air Nomads."

Aang gave him a pleading look, a kid giving his parent puppy doe eyes to ask for a long-awaited toy. Zuko gave him a stern look, a father telling his son a hard no.

Sokka cleared his throat. "You are going to remember to get her address, right?"

"Right, absolutely," Zuko said.

"Of course," said Lee.

"Then go have fun," Sokka said.

Aang gave him a wounded look, and Zuko and Lee dashed out through the other end of the alleyway before anyone else could object.

"Come on, cut him some slack," Sokka said. "If there's anyone on the planet who needs to unwind, it's him."

"She's the first other Air Nomad I've seen in a hundred years," Aang sulked. "Sorry for wanting to talk to her! What if he does something to offend her, and I never see her again?"

"If?" Suki asked.

"Then I'll get to laugh at him for weeks for blowing his date," Sokka said. "… Botching his date."

"I can't believe him," Katara said. "Telling Aang he has to look for a teacher, then running off with some girl he just met. Doesn't know the first thing about her, there are probably Fire Nation spies around … most irresponsible thing …"

"You once stole a hundred gold worth of merchandise from a crew of pirates," Sokka said.

"Wrong answer, Sokka."

"I'm just saying, maybe none of us should judge."

"I can judge," Suki said. "He's a terrible person. We should ditch him."

"He has his moments," Sokka said, glancing at Katara, remembering when Zuko had saved her.

She shook her head, preferring to forget those times. "He'd better not get up to any trouble."

Half a block away, Zuko was holding Lee's hair back while she threw up in a gutter. He bought her a drink; she washed out her mouth with half and drank the rest.

"Oh my gosh I just ran into the Avatar. Am I still alive? Is everything still attached?" She patted herself and burst into hysterical giggles. Then she turned and pulled Zuko into a crushing hug. "Zuzu, what are you doing here? I haven't seen you in forever! I missed you so much!"

He hugged her back just as tight and inhaled. She smelled just like he remembered, her favourite floral perfume. "I missed you too, Ty," he said.

Ty Lee pulled back and smiled at him. "What's up? Are you a bad guy now, or what?"

They walked and talked. "I'm still working for Father," he said, mindful of the crowds around. "He wanted to meet the Avatar, and I'm arranging that." She started. "What?"

"He … wants to meet him?"

Zuko blinked. "That's what he sent me out to do. Didn't anyone ever tell you?"

"Yeah, but –" Ty Lee cut herself off and glanced around at the crowd. They were much less conspicuous without Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Momo, but there were still people everywhere. "Let's wait until we're inside before we talk about that."

"Sure. How about you? I bumped into my sister the other day, but didn't get to talk. Are the Angels back together?"

"Yeah, and we have a new girl, too, an earthbender. Your sister said I might see you. I thought she had to be lying when she said you were travelling with the Avatar! You're crazy, you know that?" she added affectionately. "I was with him for a couple minutes, and I'm still hyperventilating. How are you not freaking out? You've heard what he did up north, haven't you?"

"I was there. And I don't have a choice. Do you know what my sister wants?"

"She won't hurt you," Ty Lee reassured him. "She promised me she wouldn't hurt anyone I liked, that was the deal to get me to join. She said she wanted to see you. It'll be like old times! Except now, we're saving the world. Just a minute, I was actually in the middle of a food run when I ran into you …"

They bought some meat and vegetables, then she led him down some quiet streets and into a private house. "Hey guys! You'll never guess who I found outside!"

The door opened to a short hallway leading to a living/dining room with a kitchen at the back: not luxurious but comfortable. There were three sofas arranged around a low table. Mai knelt at the table, running her knives over a whetstone one by one, a process Zuko knew could take some time. The Maguma girl from Omashu sat beside her, reading through a stack of papers. Azula was on the floor, doing the splits and bending back to touch her rear foot. All were dressed in casual Earth Kingdom clothes. As Ty Lee and Zuko entered, Mai and the Maguma girl looked up, and their eyes widened in surprise. Azula didn't react, except to smile very slightly.

"Hello, brother," Azula said. "Introductions? Zuko, meet Lieutenant Kori Morishita of the Maguma corps; Kori-san, meet Prince Zuko."

"It's an honour, your Highness," Kori said quietly.

"The honour is mine," Zuko said absently. "Azula. What are you up to?"

"Funny," she said, "I wanted to ask you the same thing." She unfolded and twisted around to kneel, her hands folded in her lap. Zuko noticed she had faint circular burn scars running around her wrists. "Why don't we trade questions? You can go first," she added graciously. "After all, you did me a favour up north."

"How can I trust anything you say?" he asked. "How do I even know bringing me back here wasn't a trap? You always double-cross me. Remember that time you shot lightning at me?"

"I shot lightning at the Avatar," Azula said. "It's hardly my fault you were right next to him."

"Remember that time you broke my jaw?"

"We were on different sides back then," she said, "you can't hold that against me."

I feel like we can a little.

Come on, if we were going to hold a grudge over that, we wouldn't have come here in the first place. Getting answers is more important.

Ugh. We have the worst little sister in the world.

"I don't think we'll get anywhere discussing my methods," she went on. "I'd rather talk motivations. I won't attack you here. Maybe you don't trust me, but you can trust that Ty Lee's still a rotten liar." Ty Lee nodded, smiling brightly. "If I said anything too outrageous, she'd twitch."

At that moment, Zuko's stomach rumbled, and it was loud. Ty Lee giggled; Azula smirked. Zuko scowled at her, feeling his face tint red.

"It is getting on," Azula said. "Mai?"

Mai took the food from Ty Lee and began chopping it up, very quickly and professionally. She held out a wok; without looking, Azula beamed blue fire into it, pre-heating it faster than the stove could.

"What's this about a favour?" Ty Lee asked. She pulled Zuko forward so they could sit about the table.

"I got captured," Azula said carelessly. "I took a calculated risk that didn't pay off. They gagged me, thinking it would stop me bending and they could keep me prisoner. Firebending comes from breath. A waterbender wouldn't know that, Zuko was the only firebender there, and he knows I'm good enough to bend through my nose, so he must have told them a half-truth."

"They would've executed you if they realised how hard you are to keep captive," he said. "Just tell me you didn't do too much damage on the way out."

"I was the soul of restraint," she said, which didn't fill him with confidence. "So. You can turn around and walk away, and we won't chase you. Or, you can ask your first question."

Not much of a choice. So what do I ask first?

I know how you got loose, but how'd you cross the ocean? There's no way even you could swim it.

What does Father know?

Why'd you use lethal force against the Avatar? We need him alive.

What are you planning?

"Why did you do what you did to Admiral Zhao?"

"Because he was in the way," she said. "He dreamed of personally capturing the Avatar. Imagine the honour."

"I've imagined it."

"Which meant he was putting his career ahead of our national need. He would have put him in the hold of his ship, all for the sake of his ego … then the Avatar would have escaped, again, and anything could have happened next. No. The Admiral got in my way, and that's not a mistake you get to make twice."

"Then you aren't a traitor?" Zuko asked.

"That's a second question," Azula said. "Are you a traitor?"

"Of course not," Zuko said. "I'm doing exactly what Father asked of me."

Ty Lee suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable. Kori blinked and gave her a questioning look, like What did I miss? Mai turned around, her brows knitting. Azula went dead still.

"What, exactly, did he ask you to do?" she asked.

"That's a second question," he retorted. She frowned. "Are you a traitor?"

"No," she said. "I too am doing what Father asked of me. Personally, barely a month ago. What did he ask you to do and when?"

"You know what. 'You may return when you bring back the Avatar'. I made a deal with the Avatar. I escort him until the end of summer, and then he'll surrender to me."

Ty Lee scrunched up her face. Mai's mouth fell open. Kori's face turned to that of someone choking on a bone. Azula processed this for a moment, then burst out into hysterical laughter.

"What?" Zuko asked. "What?! What's so funny? You knew this! It was a public proclamation!"

Azula banged her fist on the floor, gasping for air.

"Um," Ty Lee said. "Zuko? Your father was being … sarcastic."

Azula's cackling doubled in volume.

"Maybe he didn't think I could," he began.

"No," Ty Lee said, looking like every word was pulling teeth. "The Avatar hadn't been seen in a hundred years, everyone thought he was gone for good! Banishments have to have a slip knot, but he didn't want to ever have to take it back, so he picked an impossible one. Or, he thought he did. You weren't supposed to actually find him! It was just a mean way of saying you're out forever."

"It went around Hari Bulkan awhile," Mai said. "I heard Ty Woo say it to some guy who asked her out."

The bottom fell out of Zuko's stomach. Azula might have tried to manipulate him or been deliberately cruel, but there was no way Mai or Ty Lee would, not like this.

"… Well, even if he didn't mean it at the time," he said, "I'm so close. He'll have to welcome me back if I actually do it!"

Azula finally swallowed her laughter. "No," she said. "A Fire Lord doesn't have to do anything. Certainly not when you're doing the opposite of what he actually wants. If he'd known this would happen, he would have picked his words more carefully. It's a shame he doesn't have much of a sense of humour."

"What are you talking about? Even if he didn't think the Avatar would return then, he's back now! Of course he wants the Avatar captured!"

"No, brother," Azula said, "he wants the Avatar dead. Yes, he'll reincarnate; into the Water Tribe, which we'll obliterate in five months. We'll bring all the Water Tribe newborns to the Fire Sages for testing, and whichever is the next Avatar will be raised to be more accommodating to our ideals than the last few. Zhao was wasting resources trying to show off, and he wasn't going to let me do the job properly. I figured you and he were both traitors, so I turned you against each other so I could put you both down and finish off the Avatar once and for all."

He glanced at Mai and Ty Lee for confirmation. Mai was as insrutable as ever, but Ty Lee gave him a look, a combination of pity and reassurance, I'm sorry, but yeah.

"Let's count that as one question for you," Azula said. "That changes things. Give me a minute to think."

There was a long pause while Zuko got lost in his own mind.

What now? What do I do? What can I do? Where's Uncle? He'd know.

Probably still in Izumihanto, half a world away.

Did Zhao tell Father I was with the Avatar? He never knew for sure, but if he lied and said he'd seen me, who's Father going to believe, one of his best Admirals or a disgraced Prince?

"Can I have a go?" Ty Lee said abruptly. Azula and Zuko looked at her in surprise. "Is the Water Tribe girl your girlfriend?"

He facefaulted. "What? No! Why would you think that?!"

"She gave me the same look girls always give me when their boyfriends stare at my chest instead of theirs."

"I wasn't staring at anything," Zuko said defensively.

"Exactly," said Ty Lee. "And she told you not to go with me, and when you said you were going to anyway, she looked like she wanted to go for my throat. Is she going to be your girlfriend? And, uh, is her brother seeing anyone?"

"There she is," Mai undertoned.

"I picked an all-girls team specifically so you'd focus, Ty Lee," Azula said, pained.

"And it might be a problem that your team is plotting to assassinate the Avatar," Zuko said, because he wasn't sure whether Sokka was with Yue, Suki, or possibly someone else.

"Didn't stop my great-great-grandparents," Ty Lee said.

Zuko facepalmed. "Does anyone else have a question?"

"I do," Mai said quietly. "Did you know?"

Oh. That's why she hasn't said much. After what the Avatar did to the fleet, and we're with him, she must be furious.

We deserve it. And she deserves the truth.

"That he'd do what he did?" he asked. "No. Before then, I thought he was just some kid. A strong bender, but … he's a vegetarian, he has a pet flying rabbit monkey called Momo, he goofs off instead of training, he goes on about how the Air Nomads were pacifists. Yes, seriously. I never thought anything like that would happen. I didn't think it could! I'd fought him in the Avatar State before, and he was strong, but nothing like that. If I'd known, I never would have joined him. Not in a million years."

"You're still with him now," Mai observed.

Zuko took a breath to say that Iroh had talked him into it.

Maybe don't let Azula know Uncle's sort of complicit in all this?

"I didn't know what else to do," he said. "I can't stop him, not on my own. I thought if I watched him, I could do something if it looked like he'd do that again."

"If?" Azula asked. "Try when. The Earth Kingdom is rising up. Captured provinces rebelling, generals leading counterattacks, partisans crawling out of the woodwork. All of them thinking the Avatar will come help fight. I promise you, they aren't going to let that goofy kid just sit around playing with his rabbit monkey."

Ty Lee wrinkled her nose.

"Between the generals and the Joo Dees, they will find a way to make him use the Avatar State again, and commit another massacre, and another. It's only a matter of time. Unless we stop him first."

Joo Dees?

"I think I know what my next question should be," she said, before he could ask. "Did Fatso ever get around to teaching you lightning direction?"

Zuko shook his head. "I'm not good enough."

"You could be, you know."

He gave her a sceptical look.

"I'm not better than you because I work harder," she said, "no-one ever accused you of slacking off. Honestly, I'm not even sure I have more raw talent. I'm better than you because I get fire. I just let it work."

Zuko growled with exasperation. "I don't not let anything work! I try my hardest every single day, and it never happened! Fire burns! That's what it does! That's all it does! What don't I get? What is this big secret that nobody ever told me that you were somehow born knowing?"

Azula smiled, and leaned forward, her unblinking eyes hypnotically fixed on his.

"It's like they say, brother," she said, "you live and you burn. The only choice is whether to burn, or be burned. And on that day, you chose to be burned. Whereas every time I've ever been asked that question, my answer has been that –"

The other girls were a million miles away, it was just him and Azula. He could feel his heart beating in his chest.

BOOM-BOOM

"– I BURN," she said.

She was at a village full of men in weird outfits, who were angrily shaking spears and bending fire at her. Zuko stood beside her, standing tall, his hair back to a proper topknot. She ignored everyone and looked up at the two great dragons circling overhead.

BOOM-BOOM

"I TEAR ASUNDER –"

She was at Omashu. She led a column of soldiers, fighting Earth Kingdom soldiers through a main street. The Mad King stepped out from the other end; men in both red and green dived out of the way as he sent a house-sized boulder at her, but she skidded under and booted blue fire at him. He blocked easily, but she was already using the recoil to spring to her feet, backflip away from his follow-up strike, and run up a wall, so she could put a vicious fire-enhanced aerial axe kick straight through the wall he'd brought up.

BOOM-BOOM

"– I DESTROY anyone stupid enough to get in my way."

She was in the prison at Agna Qel'a. It was first light, just enough for her inner fire to quicken. She exhaled through her nose. Her bindings caught alight and crinkled to ash, leaving nothing but burn scars around her wrists. She tore off her gag, spat out the rag in her mouth, kicked the stone door off its hinges, smiled at the two half-awake guards outside, grabbed one by the lapel and crunched him into a wall, and seized the other by his face.

BOOM-BOOM

"I TAKE what I want –"

She was in a nameless coal village in the Earth Kingdom, leading a charge against a small army of earthbenders. Two grizzled veterans engaged her, but she slid between their attacks like it was choreographed. She was beautiful wreathed in her bright blue fire, laughing with the exhilaration of adrenaline and of blasting the enemy to bits.

BOOM-BOOM

"– I CONSUME what I want."

She was curled up inside her mother's belly. A great, terrible fire spirit rose up out of nothingness and extended a white-hot appendage to her; she reached out to touch it with one finger, and its blessing suffused her little body. Her heart beat in time with Zuko's own.

BOOM-BOOM

"But most of all, I WILL NOT BE STOPPED."

She was in a rusty metal room, drawing circles of lightning. When she had enough gathered, she kicked open the door; for half a second, she locked gazes with the Avatar, whose eyes and tattoos glowed white, before she poured pure destruction through his body. In ancient elemental temples all across the world, the eyes of Avatar statues flickered and died.

BOOM-BOOM

"Azula!"

Zuko blinked hard, the spell broken. The other three girls were staring.

"What was that?" Ty Lee went on. "You were talking, and Zuko's aura went all …" She trailed off, searching for words that didn't exist.

"Oh?" Azula said with polite disinterest, sitting back. "Anyway, I'm sure you'll figure out lightning direction eventually. You are my brother, after all."

"… Thanks," he said, feeling lightheaded.

"My turn," she said. "Not quite a question, a request this time. You said earlier that you didn't know what to do, after the disaster up north. We Tenshi are on a mission to put the Avatar down before he can strike again. Come join us, brother. Prince Zuko. Come back to the Fire Nation."

"Like I said," said Ty Lee, "we're saving the world."

"It's your chance to redeem yourself," Mai said.

"Speaking as one of your subjects," Kori said, "I'd feel a lot better with the Fire Prince on my side."

"… I want to," he said. "But I can't come back. No matter what. Forget my banishment, I helped the Avatar. I didn't realise what I was getting into, but still, that's unforgivable."

"Is it?" Azula asked. Zuko gave her a sharp look; she smiled. "Father promised he'll grant me a favour after I'm successful. Any one thing."

"He won't forgive that," Zuko said. "And why would you ask him to? As long as I'm banished, you're next in line for the throne."

"Be honest, brother," she said, "I was always next in line. I'll cement that if I take down the Avatar. But once I become Fire Lord, I'll need competent and reliable people. People like the Tenshi; people like you. That's easily worth a favour." She steepled her fingers and sat back. "When I got back from the North Pole and wrote my report, it slipped my mind to mention I saw you there. You had just done me your favour, after all. He doesn't know, and he isn't going to know. Even if you refuse right now. I can't use conscripts, I need volunteers, people who I can trust implicitly." She indicated the Tenshi, who nodded along. "No threats, no games, not this time. This time is your choice."

Interesting dilemma, Zuzu. Break your word to the Avatar, or be dishonoured forever for siding with the enemy of the Fire Nation.

I can still make it work. Uncle said –

You know, I bet he realised Father didn't need the Avatar alive. Why do you suppose he never told us?

…

We could sit here and debate whether or not he's definitely a traitor, but we have work to do, so I'm going to take the reins for a bit and handle it. You're welcome.

Wait, what? you cant just

Can't. Heh. "I take what I want." Little Sis has the right idea.

"You can think it over if you need a minute," Azula began.

"No need," he said. "Of course I'm with you. What's the plan?"

She smiled.

"It would save everyone a lot of trouble if you took him out in his sleep," she said, "but Avatars tend to be lucky. I expect one of his companions would just happen to be awake. If you went all out, maybe you'd still win, but that'd be too risky. There are more reliable ways for you to help our cause."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Let's talk tactics. He must be heading to Ba Sing Se, looking for an earthbending teacher?"

"Yes. And you're following him? Them, us?"

"Naturally. I'd rather not take a fight here; we'd be up to our armpits in earthbenders within minutes. Nor in a Fire Nation town: if he entered the Avatar State again … well. I had a few ideas about how to get him to Boiling Rock, you know, citizens who it'd be just tragic if he massacred. It's probably too fancy, though, and we'll just catch him on the road again."

"They're planning to leave in the morning. They'll head east, avoid the desert, and go through Earth Kingdom land as much as possible."

She nodded. "As expected. What's their lineup?"

Zuko sat back on his heels. He was a professional, he'd done the analysis himself a thousand times even before joining the Gaang, trying to figure out how they'd beaten him and what he'd do differently next time.

"Avatar Aang. Master airbender, okayish waterbender. He's hard to pin down, and he hits hard. If he enters the Avatar State, there's no stopping him. You're the only one here qualified to handle him. If you go all out and he doesn't enter the Avatar State, you should win, one on one, but mind he doesn't get away. He's fast, and he's not too proud to run from a fight.

"Katara, master waterbender. She's a healer too, that's how the Avatar survived your lightning strike. But without bending, she's just a civilian, no martial training at all. Ty Lee should counter her well.

"Sokka, the Water Tribe boy. Sometimes really smart, sometimes incredibly dumb. It's hard to explain. He's not great in a fight, but he's easy to underestimate. Suki, the Earth Kingdom girl. Martial artist, local variants of judo and ninjutsu. She's good, but not a champion. Any of us should beat her, if Morishita's on the same level as Mai and Ty Lee. Mai should be able to take both of them together.

"Appa, the flying bison. Don't forget about him. If he sits on you, you're not getting up again, and he's trained to protect the Avatar. He doesn't like fire, so you should be able to scare him off with a blast or two.

"They're looking for an earthbender teacher. Who knows if and when that'll happen, but Morishita should know about anti-earthbending theory, so you're the best counter if they're there. If not, I'd keep you in reserve, or maybe bend walls to keep anyone getting away. It won't stop the Avatar, but he won't abandon the others, especially Katara, he has a crush on her. Don't actually hurt her, though, that'll send him into the Avatar State.

"Which leaves me. The best way to keep the Avatar out of the Avatar State is to take him out quickly, so I'd think I should help you fight him."

Azula shook her head. "I can take him on my own. You're more useful as a man on the inside than as one more warm body in a fight. If any of us taps her topknot, that's your signal to step in and help her, but otherwise, yell at me for stabbing you in the back, and I'll call you a traitor and coward. Have fun with it, really ham it up. Then square off with Ty Lee and hesitate at the thought of hurting your old friend, and she'll put you down. She can make it convincing without actually hurting you."

"What are you planning?" he asked, knowing her well enough to know that she had specific ideas in mind already.

Azula smiled and tapped her nose. "It'll be more convincing if I don't tell you. You'll know it when you see it. But that's enough shop for now, I think. I forget, do you know that Mai has a brother now?"

Mai walked out of the kitchen, holding a tray full of very finely diced chicken pig stir fry. "Mom freaked out when I said I didn't know if I ever wanted kids," she said. "If I'd known she'd do that, I would've told her I was pregnant."

"No-one would ever believe that," Ty Lee said. Mai gave her a look, then scooped Ty Lee's dinner off her plate onto Mai's own. "Wait! No, I didn't mean it like that!"

"Tell me, Kori," Azula said, "do they celebrate the sakura festivals in Yu Dao?"

Kori swallowed her chopstickful of meat and whacked her chest to get it down properly. "Yes, Highness," she said, "they brought the trees over ages ago. They grow well, we just have to water them a bit. It's only the really recent colonies that don't have them yet, like Omashu."

"Ooh, I haven't been in years," Ty Lee said. "If we finish soon enough, maybe I can go back with you for it?"

"Better you than me," Mai told Kori.

"So he leans in to kiss me," Ty Lee said, "but I still can't remember his name, so I panic and elbow him in the nose." Kori was laughing, Mai shaking her head and trying not to smile, How am I friends with this idiot. "I must have hit him really hard, because I knocked him out, and he starts bleeding on my clothes, you know, the fancy performance costume, and right then Shuzumu comes out and says, 'Ty Lee, where are you? You're supposed to be on stage!'"

"How's Uncle doing?"

"Tied up at Izumihanto. That Earth Kingdom army's still there, although it hasn't been attacking. Rumour has it that a masked swordsman had something to do with that," Azula said, giving Zuko a shrewd look. "Something you might want to bring up if ever Father asks what you've been up to. Call it a down payment on the Avatar."

"Fong's a scumbag," Kori said balefully. "He's the reason I enlisted, he marched on Yu Dao after the Prince General withdrew from the Ba Sing Se campaign. We held him off, but he did a lot of damage before we pushed him back."

"We should really stop letting the bad guys get away all the time," Ty Lee mused.

"He almost squashed me," Azula said. "I hope I'm still that spiteful when I'm a hundred and thirteen."

"Signs point to yes," Mai said.

"Ew, a hundred and thirteen," Ty Lee said, wrinkling her nose.

"Did you use lightning on him too?" Kori asked.

"He didn't give me time. Honestly, it's not the best move in a duel, too much windup. It only really works if you can charge it from behind cover." She considered. "It might work well in a pair attack, actually. An earthbender raises a wall to cover me while I prepare, then lowers it for the attack. We'll have to drill that."

"Yes, Highness," Kori said, with the slump of a student whose teacher just assigned her another ten hours of homework.

Azula looked over at Zuko. He was enjoying himself properly for the first time in he didn't know how long, but he'd gone two days without food and not much sleep.

"You look tired," she said. "Why don't you take a bath and have a lie down? There's space in a back room."

"Right," he said. He stood up and swayed a little. "Good night."

"Sweet dreams," she said with a little smile.

Rather than look for the inn the next morning, Zuko decided to go straight to Appa. The townsfolk weren't sure how to deal with him: they'd tried giving him some lettuce and vegetables to eat, but a flying bison needs a few hundred pounds of feed per day, so eventually they gave up and just marvelled while he gobbled up an entire field's worth of grass.

The air was cold, the sky streaked with steel-grey clouds, and he felt great. If there hadn't been gawkers staring at the bison, he would have run through bending kata; instead, he started doing push-ups. Instead of tiring him out, it was like he just got more and more energy. He'd progressed from basics through one-handed and clap-up and got to handstand push-ups when the rest of the Gaang showed up.

Sokka licked his fingers and wolf-whistled. "Had a good night?" he asked, grinning.

Zuko cartwheeled to his feet. "It wasn't like that," he said. A smile lingered on his lips. "But yeah."

"Will you be able to get in touch with Lee again?" Aang asked aangxiously.

"That won't be a problem."

Katara frowned at him. "You said you'd be back before lock-up!"

"Does that mean," said Zuko, "you weren't as happy to get a break from me as I was from you?"

"," she said. "No, but apparently kidnapping is popular here. The last thing I want is to have to rescue you."

"Has anyone ever told you you're cute when you talk tough?" he asked.

She turned red.

This is fun.

"Anyway," Aang said, pre-empting Katara's retort, "I was going to say, stuff happened last night. Someone gave us a pamphlet, there was a bunch of fights, I got captured by some guys who were going to sell me to the Fire Nation … anyway, long story short …"

A small girl at the back of their group, whom Zuko had only subconsciously noticed, stepped forward. "Hey, Sparky. Remember me?"

Katara facepalmed. "Zuko, you promised me you'd never been here before!"

"I haven't," he said, sizing Toph up. "I just met her around. Hello, Beifong-tan. Always a pleasure." He gave her a Fire Nation style bow, trusting that none of the other villagers was close enough to notice. "This is a cute little town. I'll have to show you around Caldera someday."

"How did you two meet?" Katara asked warily.

"The usual," he said. "I ran into her on the road, and I abducted her. You have to keep your hand in somehow."

"," said Katara.

Toph cracked her knuckles.

She and Zuko squared off. He'd already been impressed with her, back in the tunnel, and if the others thought she was good enough to teach the Avatar, she had to be a real master, she hadn't just got him with a lucky cheap shot. But Azula had beaten the King of Omashu, and maybe he wasn't quite as good as her, but some kid surely wasn't on the King's level either. He already knew she needed contact with earth to bend, and if she used that to sense him, she should be weak to aerial attacks –

"Maybe wait until we have some privacy?" Sokka said, giving a little jerk of his head to the villagers hanging out nearby, watching Appa grazing.

We've fought all of them, haven't we?

"And make them miss out on the show?" Toph said. "You guys are no fun."

And only beaten two out of four.

"Neither is the way Earth Kingdom people act when they figure out who Sparky is," Sokka said.

It's fine. Our luck's about to change.

"You're not wrong," said Suki.

Just leave everything to me.

"Come on, guys," Aang said, and the all climbed aboard Appa's back, Toph very tentatively. "Yip yip!"

Zuko sat cross-legged at the back of the saddle, apart from the others. He shut his eyes, counted a hundred breaths, and bent.

I BURN.

He opened his eyes. For a single second, before it winked out of existence, there in his hand sat a sliver of bright blue fire. He leaned back and smiled.

OMAKE

Uncle said we should think about the rest of the Gaang's point of view. What goes on in Sokka's head?

Sokka was leaning against the edge of the saddle, looking up at the sky.

Bay bee shark, doo doo doo-doo doo –

Oh my god. What about Toph? She's got to be pretty good, right?

Zuko eyed the pale little earthbender, who was sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest. With her milky eyes, it was impossible to tell what she was focusing on, and her expression was completely smooth and unreadable.

Oh jeez flying is horrible horrible horrible. We're going to throw up. Focus on something else, anything else.

Like their names! How are we supposed to remember them? We suck at names at the best of times, and they expect us to remember seven?!

Well, we already knew Prince Zuko, Suki's a normal name, and Appa and Momo are easy, but the others are … Avatar Ung or Ong or something, and … the boy's name was something watery?

Soaker?

Maybe? Ah, jeez, it's so embarrassing asking people to repeat their names! Screw it, let's just stick with insulting nicknames and wait for everyone to say each other's names in conversation.

"Hey Twinkletoes, can't this thing go any faster?" she asked.

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