Aang's first instinct was to go after Zuko. But as he stood up, he remembered that wouldn't work. Besides, he didn't know what to do. What exactly was going on? Aang opened his glider and flew around the temple, scanning its grounds for unusual groups of people. There! He landed and forced his way through. It turned out to be a group of relatives celebrating a young boy getting his first glider. The boy turned back from the edge of the temple to look at him. His parents frowned.

"Sorry. I was looking for someone else," Aang said. He flew off. There! A bunch of people gathered outside a tower close to the former construction site. He landed and forced his way through the crowd. Iroh sat in the entrance to the tower. His and Zuko's new pack sat next to him, opened. He had made tea. It was exactly the sort of thing Aang expected from him.

"I didn't expect you back so soon," Iroh said. "Where's your new friend?"

"Somewhere else. Look, I have to talk to you." Aang sat down next to Iroh and lowered his voice to a whisper so he wouldn't broadcast someone else's pain all over the temple. "I was just talking to Zuko. He said he doesn't have a people. What did he mean by that? Isn't the whole Fire Nation his people?"

Iroh looked exactly as surprised as Aang had been. He rubbed his beard. "It should be. I've never heard him say anything like that. What could he have meant?"

"He was jealous that I have all these records and memories and stuff while he doesn't," Aang added.

Iroh looked completely flabbergasted. "I have no idea what he could have been talking about. The Imperial Palace is filled with historical records of his ancestors."

"How am I supposed to help him then? He looked so sad." Aang placed a hand on his belly, where he felt the hole inside most strongly. "I had no idea anyone else felt this bad."

Katara and Teo arrived. "You're here," Katara said, running up to Aang. "I was worried."

"About what Zuko would say to me?"

"Yes."

"Don't worry," Aang said, gently pushing her hand off his shoulder. "He didn't say anything hurtful."

"Oh." Katara was surprised by that. "Huh. I thought he would…"

"If nothing happened," Teo said, "can we continue the tour?" He looked at Katara. "I can get you a glider."

Katara gasped. "A glider?" She looked up at the people soaring overhead. "I would love that!"

"Let's go then." Teo turned and wheeled away. Aang and Katara followed.

"Come back for refreshments any time you want," Iroh called out behind them. He poured tea for three new people who had shown up and sipped his own cup with delight. Tea was an oasis in the desert, a rock in the ocean. If ever he was overwhelmed, he could count on a nice cup of tea to help him find the way out. It never failed. Iroh finished his cup with a sigh. He glanced at the pack beside him. Thanks to tea, he had learned what was troubling his nephew. But he had also found a new mystery. What was that strange mask, and why did Zuko have it?

.

A child found him first. "What're you doing sitting in the doorway?" a young boy asked.

Zuko's breathing was still fast and faltering. "Leave me alone."

The boy did not do that. Instead, he sat next to Zuko. He didn't say anything at first. Zuko closed his eyes and tried to get control of himself. He managed to breathe normally. But the hole inside did not close up or disappear. He felt its pangs as strongly as ever.

"Do you want to know what helps me feel better when I'm sad?" the boy asked.

No. "What?"

"Flying."

Zuko's eyes flew open. Flying? He hadn't even thought about that since first entering the temple. He looked down at the boy in astonishment. Was he offering…?

"Wait here," the boy said, standing up. "I'll get my big sis. She has an adult glider. I have my own glider too. We can fly together!"

Zuko rose to a crouch. Flying. Like a dragon. It would be a literal dream come true. His heart beat faster. I could be like a dragon. He forgot all about the pangs of loneliness. Flying through the sky with other dragons. The hole began to close.

The boy came back, as promised, with his older sister and her glider. "Come on!" Zuko followed them to the edge of the temple. He saw someone else taking off. The man just dove off the edge, glider already attached. Just like a dragon. Zuko could feel his imaginary wings as if they were real. They itched badly, wanting to fly. He kept them folded. He didn't have the glider yet. It was hard to remember that.

"Stay still." The older sister lifted the glider over his head. "Hold on to the bar. Just like that. Okay, now look down." She showed him another bar attached to the glider's tail. "That's where your feet go. Put them there as you dive."

"Don't be scared," the boy said. He had his glider on, too. "When you fly, it transforms you. No matter how heavy you are on the ground, in the air, you're light as a feather."

His sister nodded. "You just have to -"

"I don't need instruction," Zuko said. "I'm not scared. I was born ready for this." He walked up to the edge and smiled. The mountainside stretched below: miles and miles of sharp, jagged rock awaiting him if he should fall. Perfect. This is just the place a dragon should take off from. He spread his imaginary wings and dove off. He was surprised to hear himself burst out laughing as soon as his feet left the ground.

I can feel it! I can feel the air! It was as if the glider was a part of his own body, as if his wings were real. He didn't feel like he was falling; the air was rushing up to meet him. It pushed him up, up, into the sky. He tilted his wings (glider) just a little and soared to his right. Already the takeoff area was far below.

"Wow! You're good for a first-timer," the boy said. He flew behind Zuko.

"I'm a little more than that." A dragon. Zuko narrowed his eyes against the wind and dove. He shot over the temple, zipping between two towers and curving down, down, past another tower, then curving up, up, shifting from side to side to gather every last helpful gust of wind. He laughed again. How could he not? How could anyone not laugh when they were free and powerful and nothing at all could be important?

He danced through the air just because he could. The air seemed to laugh alongside him. The boy flew on ahead. Zuko made two more loops, then followed him around the temple to the takeoff area. The sister waited, and several other young boys. Zuko smirked and dove down to meet them. He zoomed past the first boy, who was approaching the landing area with caution, and came nearly level with the edge. Then he tilted his wings (glider) up. Without a movable tail to stabilize him, he ended up spinning in a circle. He ended the spin with his feet on the ground and his legs carrying him forward until the last of his momentum was gone.

If anyone noticed how dizzy he was, they didn't act like it. "Woah!" one of the boys exclaimed. "That was the coolest landing I've ever seen! And the shortest!" The boys crowded around Zuko and spoke over each other, all trying to find out how he had done something so amazing at the same time.

The first boy landed some distance away, over a much greater length of ground. He came back and asked, "Are you sure that was your first time flying?", which provoked another chorus of "Wow!"s.

Zuko handed the glider to the older sister, who looked at him curiously. "Who are you?"

Zuko acted impulsively then. On a whim - and because there was no harm in it - and because he was free - and because it felt right - and because he wanted to, he lifted his head and said, "I'm a dragon." The children stared at him. "I know I don't look like one," Zuko added. "But my uncle's a dragon too, and he doesn't have a tail or horns either."

One of them turned to the first boy. "Temi?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't believe it!" He punched Temi in the shoulder. "You made friends with a dragon?!"

"That makes sense!" another boy exclaimed. "Dragons land that way!" This was solid enough reasoning to convince everyone else. Zuko found that he had acquired a crowd of admirers. When he told them he really should find his uncle and walked away, they followed. The older sister put her glider away and followed too, at a distance.

Katara, the Avatar and Teo came out of the temple then. Zuko's good mood darkened. Had the Avatar told anyone else? He didn't want anyone to know he felt lonely. Obviously that would be humiliating. It would make him seem like an ungrateful weakling. And there was an extra danger, that if someone didn't think that about him they would start asking questions. Questions were bad things. Zuko looked at all three of them, his heart pounding. Did he tell anyone?

Katara did a double take at the crowd of children. "Where did you get all the admirers?"

"He's a dragon!" Temi exclaimed. "He flies just like one!"

She doesn't know. He didn't tell anyone. Zuko looked away from the Avatar. "Have you seen Uncle?"

"Yeah. He's back that way." Katara gave directions. Then she paused. She clasped her hands together shyly and looked at him with the wide eyes of an innocent. "Did you really fly on a glider? How was it?"

Zuko needed a moment before he could answer. She's never looked at me that way before. "Don't worry about it. The air right now is friendly. It'll help you." He made his way past them, muttering, "Excuse me."

As he returned from the open, airy light of the outside to the gloomy and shadowy interior of the temple, Zuko realized what he'd done. I was trying to stay away from them. I was trying not to be friends. So why did I tell him how I feel?! Why? He flushed with rage, all self-directed. Idiot! The stupidest of all possible decisions! Gah! Why am I like this?!

"Is everything okay?" one of the children asked.

"I don't like being in here," Zuko snarled. "The air can't get in. It's dark, and the pipes shriek. This is no place for anything that lives in the air to be."

But his mood didn't get better when he left that part of the temple and crossed a bridge. If it was possible, it turned even darker. I hate being here. This was a mistake. I let my guard down, again, and did something stupid and terrible and impulsive, again. When am I going to learn? What is wrong with me? His heart pounded. By opening up so far, he might have endangered everything. It wasn't safe to open up. How could I have done that? So stupid… It was a relief to finally spot his uncle. Zuko ran to him. Those tower steps looked like an oasis.

He sat down next to Iroh. "Tea, please." Tea was part of the oasis. As long as he sipped tea, Iroh would ask no questions. Everything would be alright. Shameful… The critical voices faded to whispers as he drank. He held the tea in his hands and sighed.

"How do you like it?" Iroh asked, smiling.

Before Zuko could answer, the children came running after him. "Is that your uncle?" one of them asked.

"Are you really a dragon?" another of them asked Iroh.

Iroh blinked. "People do know me as one, yes." The children exclaimed in amazement.

Temi's older sister came up. "Really?" She looked at Zuko and took a step back. "I didn't think he was serious about that. Um, I think I hear Mom calling. Take care of yourself, Temi."

"I don't hear anything…"

The children watched her disappearing back in confusion. "Temi, is your sister a dragonphobe?" asked the boy who had punched him before.

"What? No! She can't be!"

One of the boys sat down and held out his hands for tea. "It's okay, mister. We don't mind if you're dragons."

Iroh shot Zuko a look, which Zuko pretended not to notice. Why did I tell them that? In retrospect, it wasn't a good idea. Now he was going to have to answer questions. Should've kept my big mouth shut.

But there was tea, so Iroh did not ask questions. He poured the last of his pot of tea for the children and told them about the history of dragons. It was all information that Zuko had learned at a young age. Even so, he listened to it just as attentively as the air walker children did. Dragons could never be boring.

One of the children raised a hand. "If dragons are awesome, why are firebenders terrible?" he asked.

"The firebenders you know today are badly mistaken," Iroh said. "They've given in to anger and become too hotheaded for their own good. The power of fire must be tempered by patience."

Zuko tightened his grip on his cup. I wish he wouldn't say things like that. If anyone overheard they'd think he was a traitor. He's not. He's just…eccentric. But other people would mistake him for one in a heartbeat.

"How can you teach an entire nation patience?" another child asked.

Iroh shook his head sadly. "I don't know. But it must be done."

Good luck. I've tried teaching that thing patience before. It doesn't take. It's like it's incapable of learning anything. The stupid, stubborn… At least the water spirit learns things occasionally.

The discussion turned back to dragons. The children were very interested in knowing what they looked like. Iroh was forced to describe in increasingly detailed ways every part of a dragon's appearance, until the children were satisfied with what they could picture in their minds. "Wow. Awesome…"

That was when a bell began to ring. Clang, clang, clang. It boomed out over the whole temple, causing everyone to freeze in place and look up. The sound was coming from the main tower. When it stopped and the last clang faded away, Zuko asked, "What was that?"

"That was the meeting bell," Temi said, standing up. "We're all to go to the landing place right away." Zuko and Iroh looked at each other, then packed up the tea set in a hurry. Iroh reached out for the pack. Zuko snatched it away, then took the items Iroh carried and put them away himself. If there was any chance that he hadn't seen the mask, it would be best to keep it that way. Honestly, Zuko didn't have high hopes. Three spilled secrets already… Today is not my day. He shouldered the pack and they ran to catch up.

As soon as he saw the Avatar and his friends standing with the inventor, he knew. "You have got to be kidding me. What other disaster have they invited now?" There was no natural disaster on the horizon and the spirits seemed happy. It could only be a conflict with the Fire Nation. Zuko's stomach dropped. He felt sick and regretted drinking so much tea. Oh no. Today isn't just 'not my day.' It's really bad, and getting worse. This could be the worst day of my life.