Mai could tell that Azula was slowly starting to lose her shit.

She couldn't exactly blame the girl. After all, she had just been turned into a child (what on earth had Azula done to piss off the spirits that badly?) and Ty Lee had been gushing about how cute Azula was for the past five minutes. Safe to say, if she were in Azula's shoes, Mai would have lost it too.

The Avatar and his companions look just as confused as they are. Trying to decide if they should still attack, or retreat while the chaos before them is unfolding. The fact that the Avatar was right in front of them gave Mai an idea. One that Azula would most likely kill her for, but they didn't have any other options. At least, none that she could think of.

"Azula"

At the sound of her voice, both Ty Lee and Azula turn to Mai. The latter looked at her rather hopefully, as if she wanted Mai to have all the answers to her current predicament. It certainly wasn't a look that Mai was used to receiving from the girl.

"What is it? Do you have an idea to get me out of this? Please tell me that you do."

"Aww, Azula! You sound sooo cute!"

"Ty Lee, knock it off!"

Mai was going to need some time to get used to hearing that voice again.

"Yeah, I have a plan. But you're not going to like it. I think we should join the Avatar and get him to help with…. whatever this is. If anyone would know about spirit matters, it would be him, right?"

Azula stared at Mai as if she had three heads. Mai thought that was a pretty tame reaction. It could have been worse. She could have been screaming at her and-

"WHAT?! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!"

Ah, there it is.

Mai sighed "Look, we really don't have many other options here. Like I said, our only shot at fixing this is traveling with the Avatar. Unless you happen to know about spirit related issues?"

"I don't, but-"

"Then stop complaining. Don't you want to return to normal? And think about it. This may be your best opportunity to capture the Avatar."

That got Azula thinking. Mai did have a point. If the Avatar agreed to help her, the moment she got her body back, she could launch a surprise attack. He would never see it coming. This line of thinking made Azula realize something else.

"What if he doesn't agree?"

"Then we'll make him."

Azula liked the sound of that.

"What should we do? Should we try and rescue Bumi and leave?" Aang asked.

Sokka pondered on that for a moment. Now that the princess was a tiny princess, she probably wouldn't be able to pose much of a threat to them. But he had yet to see what her two companions could do in a fight. And he really didn't want to fight them if he didn't have to. Especially not with this baby in his arms.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Let's wait and see what they do first. Who knows, maybe they'll be willing to strike a deal with us."

"Hey! Could you guys come over here? We need to talk! And bring my brother!"

Well then. He wasn't actually expecting them to want to strike a deal with them.

"Wow Sokka, you were right! They do want to strike a deal with us!"

"Yeah, but what if it's a trap? We can't trust them"

He supposed that Katara had a point. It could very well be a trap. But at the same time, Sokka couldn't help but not take them too seriously now that it seemed like the ring leader was no longer a threat.

"I think we should hear what they have to say, Katara. It might end with them releasing Bumi."

That would be a good thing, she thought. And besides, hadn't that been their entire reason for doing this? Breaking Bumi out? Aang would be happy, and he still needed to learn earthbending, after all.

Katara nodded her head, which Sokka took as an 'ok' from her. He then focused his attention on the three girls.

"We'll hear you out, but don't try anything funny."

Sokka really hoped that this wasn't a mistake.

"Alright, talk. What do you guys want?" the boy who held her brother said.

Mai had to play this right. She knew that realistically, the Avatar had no reason to help them at all. Especially since they were his enemies. And even if she did offer them the mad king of Omashu, who's to say that they would feel inclined to help them? They could just run off after the exchange was done. And with Azula in her current state, Mai highly doubted that she or Ty Lee would be a match for the Avatar himself.

"I have an offer for you guys. We release the King to you. In exchange, you help my friend here-" as she said this, Mai picked up Azula and held her in front of her, much to the tiny princess's annoyance "return to normal."

The three teens were silent for a moment. Then a collective "what?!" came from the three of them.

"Why should we help you? You're our enemy!"

"And besides, your princess is a far less threat to us in that new form of hers."

"You wanna bet, ponytail?!"

"Aang."

Everyone stopped and looked at Bumi.

"Can we talk for a moment? In private?"

Aang looked at his friends, who just shrugged their shoulders. "Um, sure, I guess."

"Excellent! Everyone else, go stand over there. This won't take long."

Aang had a funny feeling that his old friend was going to tell him that he should help the shrunken Fire Nation princess. And ok, maybe Aang kinda wanted to help her out. Isn't that his job as the Avatar? Helping people? Besides, he didn't let her brother die at the North Pole, even though Sokka and Katara wouldn't have minded if he did. They didn't seem keen on helping the princess out either.

"Alrighty! First things first. Aang, I can't come with you."

Of all the things he was expecting Bumi to say, it certainly wasn't that.

"What?! Why? That girl said that she would release you. We can get you out of this city and you can help master earthbending! Why don't you want to come with us?"

"Because the time isn't right yet. I'm not done waiting and listening."

Now Aang was just confused. Waiting and listening for what? "I'm not sure I follow, Bumi. What are you talking about?"

"Oh nothing, you'll know in due time." His friend said with a laugh. Aang, however, was not amused.

"Oh, don't give me that look, Aang. I'm sure that you'll find your earthbending teacher eventually. And when you do, it will be someone like me, who waits and listens for the right moment to strike."

Seriously, what did Bumi mean by that?

"Oh, and one more thing. I want you and your friends to help the princess regain her true form."

And there it was.

"I know you'll think I'm crazy for saying this - then again, most people already think I'm crazy - but this might just be a good opportunity for you. This happened to the princess for a reason. Help her out, and you may just find yourself with a powerful new ally and a firebending master."

"But she's the princess of the Fire Nation! Why would she want to teach me, her nation's sworn enemy, firebending?"

" You all will most likely see a lot of things while you travel through the Earth Kingdom. Things that just may make the princess and her two friends question the war, and why they are fighting in it to begin with. If the princess comes to the conclusion that the war, and by extension her father, is wrong, then she may just join you and help you defeat Fire Lord Ozai. Besides, I can see it written all over your face. You want to help her, don't you?"

Bumi knew him way too well.

Aang sighed "Yeah, I do want to help her. But how can I convince Katara and Sokka to let them join us?"

"Simple. Just them what I just told you. I'm sure it will all work out in the end!"

The two of them may come around to the idea of Aang told them about the whole "convincing the princess to become his firebending master" part. It's not like he had anyone else to go to teach him. Who knows where Jeong Jeong was at this point?

"Ok. I'll talk to them about it. I just hope they say yes."

"Great! Well, I guess this is where we part ways. We'll meet again, Aang."

Aang walked back over to his friends, hoping that they would agree to what he had to say. He could certainly understand why they wouldn't though.

"So? What did you and Bumi talk about?" Katara asked.

Aang took a deep breath "Well, he says that he won't be coming with us, and that I need to find someone else to teach me earthbending. Something about the time not being right. And…"

" 'And'? What else did he say?"

"He wants me to help the princess. And before you guys say anything, hear me out. Bumi made some good points when we were talking about this. What if this earns me a firebending master? Think about it. There's a firebender in need of our help. What if we help her, and in return, she feels so grateful that she agrees to teach me firebending?"

"Or, she can feel so 'grateful' and try to capture you."

Aang could always count on Sokka for his pessimism. Although he did have a point. What if she did try and capture him after everything was said and done? That was something that he needed to consider.

"You have a point, Sokka. But Bumi said something else, too. We'll be seeing a lot of things as we travel through the Earth Kingdom. How this war has impacted a lot of people's lives. Seeing all of that may just convince her that this war and her father is wrong, and that both have to be stopped. And I'm willing to take that chance. Plus, I kind of want to help her out, too. It's not every day that someone gets turned into a child, after all. I'm curious to find out why this happened to her. And I'm the Avatar. Helping people is my job, no matter who they are. So, what do you guys say?"

Katara and Sokka looked at each other for a moment before Sokka spoke up.

"Well, I say that you're being way too optimistic about this, but if you think that this is the right course of action, then let's do it."

Aang smiled. That was one down. He glanced at his other friend "Katara?"

"I don't know how to feel about this, but I trust you, Aang."

"Great! I'll go tell them the good news."

Mai was trying to convince Azula to not kill Ty Lee when she noticed that the Avatar was walking towards them. She immediately stopped what she was doing and glanced up at him.

"Well? Have you considered my offer?"

"Yep, we sure have! Welcome to the group, you guys!"

Well that certainly went easier than Mai thought. No fighting at all.

"Great. Now can I please have my brother back so my parents can shut up?"