Zuko had a long night, but not because he was busy meditating. His attempts to meditate were spoiled by the anxiety that turned his stomach and made his heart feel like it was pumping mud. He buried himself in his blankets and tried to ignore it. Eventually, he managed to snatch a few hours of sleep.

Early in the morning, he awoke to the sound of feet shuffling outside. The Avatar was saying goodbye to Mang and the rest of the resistance. They were going to handle the exchange themselves. Mang wished him luck. Then, after a pause, he thanked them for helping him and the rest of his men to escape. Mang thumped his chest. "We will fight back against the Fire Nation in other places, gather resources and allies. One day, Omashu shall be ours again!" Aang waved goodbye as they left.

Momo's ears were down as he watched Katara feed the toddler from supplies normally reserved for him. After breakfast, the baby yawned. Aang picked him up and patted his back. The baby fell asleep instantly. "It's a new day," Aang said. "I have a good feeling about this."

"I don't," Sokka said. "Shall I count the reasons why?" He counted on his fingers. "Jerkface's sister might be there. She'll probably spoil the deal. Then we have to figure out a way to break out Bumi, and also how to return the baby. Assuming she doesn't kill us first."

"Sokka, wait," Aang interrupted. "That's the worst case scenario. Just because we ran into one of her old friends doesn't mean she'll be there."

"Plan for the worst, hope for the best," Iroh said.

"Exactly," Sokka agreed.

"If she's going to spoil the deal anyway, then Sokka, you should just take the baby and run as soon as she shows up," Katara said. "Keep Appa somewhere nearby for a quick escape. Aang, have the bison whistle at the ready. We escape as soon as we know where Bumi is."

Aang turned to Zuko and Iroh. "This time, you can be sure we're going to fly out of Omashu. Watch for us from here."

Iroh stroked his beard. "When is this trade happening?"

"At noon."

Zuko didn't like hearing that. Another few hours to feel like my insides are rebelling against me. Wonderful.

.

Katara realized midmorning that she hadn't seen Zuko for a few hours. She went looking for him and found him curled up with the water dragon standing over him. She crouched down and touched his shoulder. "I know it must be hard to face your family again."

"It's been three years since I was burned and tossed out of my home," Zuko replied sullenly. "So much could have changed. But somehow, I don't think anything has."

"Do you want to talk about it, or just a hug?"

"I can't talk about it. I don't have anything to say. All I have is this." He gestured down at his belly. "I feel sick, just when I need to feel strong."

Katara hugged him. "I'm sorry."

Zuko took a deep, shuddering breath. "I don't feel like I can do it."

"That's okay. Rest here. We'll handle it."

He let it out. "Thank you."

.

Just hearing her say that made Zuko feel better. As noon approached, he and Iroh watched the Avatar's crew prepare Appa for a quick escape. Appa nickered nervously. Momo hid behind one of his horns. "Yeah, it's best that you don't come," Aang told the lemur. "Sorry, Momo." They got onto Appa's back. With a "Yip yip!", they flew off.

Zuko watched them fly toward Omashu. As the bison got smaller and smaller, he developed a deep feeling of dread. It sharpened, turning pointy and red hot and stabbing. He gasped, turned away and ran to the dragon.

"Nephew, what are you doing?" Iroh asked in alarm.

"I can't stand to hide away like a coward," Zuko replied. He gripped the dragon's reins. "I am strong enough to face her."

"Zuko!" Iroh touched his hand. "Be careful."

"I will," Zuko replied. "I won't be out in the open. Just close enough to see her face. To see if anything's changed." He flicked the reins. The water dragon trotted forward and leaped off the cliff. He urged it forward.

He caught up to the bison just before they reached the city. The bison was flying low, below the sight of the guards on the wall. "Zuko?!" Katara asked. "What are you doing here?"

He told her the same thing he'd told Iroh. "How are you guys getting in?"

"Distraction," Aang replied. "I'm gonna fly in and draw the guards away. I know a place that's unguarded where Appa can land." That was exactly what he did. Appa and the water dragon landed inside the city, following the path that Aang cleared until they were safely enclosed by tall buildings and machinery. Aang told both of his companion animals to stay there until he blew the whistle. Appa looked just as happy to obey. Momo chattered sadly, but did as asked. Zuko only had to glance at the water dragon before it turned itself into a white jacket and pants for him and a block of ice that could be easily hidden.

The meeting place was on top of a construction platform surrounding a giant statue of Firelord Ozai in the making. Zuko felt his insides quiver. No! I'll need my spiritbending to fight her off. He immediately raced across the platform to the rigging and climbed up it far enough that someone would have to be specifically looking for him to see him. From there, he watched the opposite side of the platform. His heart still pounded, but it felt like a better kind of anxiety: the anxiety of doing something, instead of just hiding away and worrying. As terrified as he was, he knew he'd made the right choice.

The ice block hid itself in shadow directly below him. On the opposite side of the platform, three figures approached. Zuko's blood chilled. Katara gasped. Sokka gripped the baby tightly. They matched Zuko's descriptions perfectly; Ty Lee with her long brown hair in a braid, Mai looking emotionless and Azula with a royal emblem in her hair. The governor was nowhere to be seen. A good long distance away, they stopped. Cackling came from above. Aang's side looked up to see a construction crane lowering a metal coffin. The coffin turned to reveal the face of an old man who sounded absolutely crazy. "Hi, everybody!" he called out.

Katara stood in front of Aang, hiding him from view while he blew the whistle. Sokka moved slightly closer to the side of the platform. The coffin landed just behind the three girls. So close, yet so far. "You brought my brother?" Mai called.

"He's here," Katara replied. "We're ready to trade."

Azula murmured something to Mai. Just as she finished speaking, a tremendous roar shook the platform. Appa burst through the air, ready to fight for his life. He spotted the three girls and roared again, turning around to slap them with a powerful burst of airbending. Sokka and Katara ran up to him. "I'll take out the chain!" Aang yelled, spreading his glider. Whoever was operating the construction crane was smart enough to reel the chain back in.

Appa's tail slap would have blown the girls clear off the side of the platform if Azula had not countered it with an enormous blast of blue flame. Sokka scrambled onto Appa's back as fast as he could with only three limbs. The baby wailed. "Hurry, Katara!"

Katara hesitated. "Aang can't face the three of them alone! He needs backup. Stay far away where you can see us." She ran around Appa, reaching out for the block of ice conveniently located nearby. Zuko felt the ice slip out of his control. With a dragon's worth of water at her disposal, Katara was a formidable enemy. She lashed out at all three girls simultaneously.

Azula leaped out of the way, climbing up the rigging towards Aang, who was nearly finished with the chain. Mai threw knives, forcing Katara to focus on blocking them. Ty Lee seemingly leaped out of the way. In the time it took Zuko to glance up at Aang and back down, he lost sight of her. Uh oh. Just then, the chain broke. Aang cushioned the coffin's fall and sent it on a journey down a conveniently-located chute. Azula followed him. Even with her gone, Zuko couldn't relax. Not knowing where anybody was set off his inner alerts. He scanned the platform frantically, searching for Ty Lee.

He spotted her just in time as she came up through the platform behind Katara. Katara was busy using octopus form to drive Mai back with the intent of grabbing and pinning her, so she was defenseless. Zuko's eyes widened in surprise as fire filled the air between her and Ty Lee, making Ty Lee cry out and tumble backward acrobatically. Where did that come from? Oh. I made it. He shifted his feet so both of his arms were available to bend the fire, stretching it out into a shield that bent around Katara, protecting her from all sides. Katara continued to fight Mai, unbothered by the flames. She grabbed Mai's arm and froze it, immobilizing her. Then she did the same to Mai's other arm.

Ty Lee immediately looked up. Her face lit up. "Zuko! Mai, look, it's Zuko!"

"He's on their side, doofus!" Mai replied.

Ty Lee immediately leaped onto the rigging and swooped upwards toward him. Zuko knew the rigging gave her an advantage, so he leaped down onto the open platform. He joined Katara. They fought back to back. Katara concentrated on keeping Mai immobilized while Zuko kept Ty Lee at bay with fire. It was difficult to keep up with her acrobatics, but he succeeded for a while. Eventually, however, she ducked underneath the platform again. Not knowing where she was going to come from, he reacted too slowly. She skirted past his flames and pinched him in the shoulder. His vision turned white. He screamed. Heat and cold, both so intense that they were indistinguishable, radiated down his arm. Zuko retaliated blindly, gasping.

"Zuko!" Katara cried out. She watched as fire spread along the wooden rigging. She diverted some water to signal Sokka. Zuko whirled around, barely able to see, searching for Ty Lee. He spotted her skipping away from him and sent another enormous fireball her way. The platform went up instantly. Katara let her ice melt, freeing Mai.

Sokka led Appa back to them. Appa used his tail again and was much more successful, blasting both girls out of the fire's way. They climbed down from the platform without hesitation. Katara grabbed Zuko and dragged him onto Appa's back. Zuko tried to climb, but pain made him clumsy. His left arm still felt simultaneously burned and frozen. Sokka had to help pull him into the saddle.

Zuko didn't understand much of what happened after that. All he knew was flying. Lots of acrobatic flying. And pain. The pure, concentrated fury of the elements when they were thwarted.

.

Meanwhile, Aang was chased by Azula. He used the metal coffin as a cart, and Azula rode an empty cart. He noticed at some point that his protective head covering had come off. She definitely knew he was the Avatar. And she was not at all scared.

"Aang, I need to talk to you!" Bumi yelled.

"I'm a little busy!" Aang replied, fending off another burst of blue flame. He tried to blast her back. She cut through it with her hands, smiling. This terrified him. He tried to move faster, but now that they were on the same track, there was no escape. He tried to knock down some posts to block her way. When she reached them, there was a boom and a cloud of dust was raised. When it cleared, the cart had no rider…for all of two seconds. She'd hidden inside it. Zuko had not been exaggerating! Aang was immensely relieved to see his friends riding to the rescue. When they pulled alongside, he propelled the metal coffin off the track. Unfortunately, he did it too strongly. The coffin sailed over Appa's head. He had to direct it onto another track. Azula found a way to follow him onto it. They were fast approaching ground level. There was no opportunity for Appa to try again.

Azula drew too close for comfort and fashioned a very powerful bit of firebending that raced along the track towards Aang. Aang's wind bursts didn't affect it. All seemed lost, when suddenly Bumi grunted and a spike of earth rose up from the track. The fire was blocked and Azula's cart crashed. Aang watched her land on the track and grow smaller and smaller, his mouth hanging open.

He leaped off when they reached the ground, his head spinning. Bumi earthbended again, propping up his coffin so that he could comfortably speak to Aang. "You could earthbend this whole time?" Aang asked.

Bumi laughed. "They didn't cover my face!"

"But…" Aang's head still spun. "Your people. They needed you. Why didn't you let them know you were okay? Why didn't you fight back or escape?"

"Listen to me, Aang. There are options in fighting called jing. It's a choice of how you direct your energy," Bumi said.

Aang shook his head. Lessons taught to children? Really? He respected Bumi's crazy ways, but they had much better things to be talking about! "I don't care whether sitting in a metal box all day is your way of attacking or retreating! There's more at stake than just you. You're responsible to your people, too. They had the right to know you were okay. If you're planning something, if you're going to, I don't know, listen to the Fire Nation and wait until you learn something good before you escape, well, you should have told somebody that was what you were doing! We worried that you were dead! I worried."

Bumi raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like you've already found an earthbending teacher."

"No, just badger moles. But I don't want to learn from badger moles. I wanted to learn from my best friend. And you let me think you were dead." Aang turned away, unable to look at his old friend any longer.

"You learned from badger moles? Color me surprised. I didn't think you were the type."

"I'm traveling with the latest twospirit," Aang muttered.

"Oh, now it makes sense. Listen to me, Aang." Aang turned one ear in Bumi's direction. "You need a teacher who understands the ways of earth just as much as any twospirit. Someone who knows how to listen and wait for the right moment to strike. Someone who has mastered the third jing."

Aang turned back around. "There are more than two kinds of jing?"

"Well, technically there are 85, but all you need to concern yourself with now is the third one," Bumi replied. "The jing of doing nothing."

"I need to find a teacher who knows how to do nothing," Aang repeated.

"Exactly! Now, I'd best be going. Say hi to your friend for me!" Bumi started laughing crazily. He used earthbending to propel himself back up the track, still laughing.

Aang watched his oldest friend go with a sigh. He'd outed himself to the Fire Nation for nothing. Now he had a murderous girl-Ozai on his tail and nothing to show for it. As wise as Bumi was, Aang couldn't help thinking he'd screwed up. There was a lowing sound as Appa found a way to fit himself between nearby buildings. "You can have the best plan in the world, but that doesn't mean much if nobody knows about it," Aang grumbled while looking for his ride.

.

They reunited with Iroh, just as planned. Iroh immediately went to Zuko's side. He listened to Zuko's description of what Ty Lee had done to him and where. "She blocked one of your chi points," Iroh said. "Your spiritbending gives you a much greater connection to the energy flowing inside of you. This makes you powerful, but also vulnerable to things that affect the flow of chi."

Zuko grabbed his shoulder and grimaced. "Watch out for Ty Lee. Got it."

In a softer voice than anyone had ever heard him use before, Sokka asked Aang, "What happened with Bumi?" He sounded like he expected to hear that Azula had killed the old master.

"He was never in any trouble," Aang snapped. "He's not dead, not injured, and he can even earthbend. He's deliberately doing nothing so that he can listen to the Fire Nation and wait for an opportunity. But he never told anybody that. I outed myself to Azula for nothing."

"Really?!" Zuko snarled. "We have Azula on our tail for no reason just because your crazy old-man friend couldn't be bothered to say anything? I wish I could give him a piece of my mind!"

"If he's so good at sitting around listening, the air can probably tell him," Sokka said. He was serious. He looked just as unhappy as everyone else.

Zuko gathered a bit of dirt from the mountain and held it up. The air blew it away. "I asked the water spirit to tell it to blow this dust into his eyes three times," Zuko explained. "That should get the message across."

"How dangerous is Azula?" Katara asked Aang.

"Zuko wasn't kidding. I saw it in her body language when she chased me. She was completely focused. She even used firebending in a way that I couldn't deflect."

"Great. New plan," Sokka announced. "Step one: return the baby." The baby was chewing on Momo's tail. Momo tolerated this with much wincing, apparently to keep the baby from crying. "Step two: find Aang a teacher who's just like Bumi, but with a better sense of priorities."

They waited until nightfall. Under cover of darkness, Aang flew back to the city with the baby. He landed silently behind the governor and his wife, who looked very upset. He smiled as he put the baby down on the balcony and watched him toddle towards his parents. He flew away before he could be spotted. As he did so, his smile died. He'd been completely correct about the governor's love for his son. But it hadn't mattered.

.

A/N: I read someone's analysis of ATLA once where they said that of all the old masters the gaang encountered, Bumi was the only one who didn't learn anything from them. This is allegedly because he was the only one who didn't need to, who was already perfectly wise. I don't think that's true. I've often had communication difficulties myself where I forget to tell people things. That IS a problem. It doesn't matter if I know everything I need to know. Other people are making plans that hinge on mine, so they need to know too. I think Bumi does have things to learn.