Mommy's Daddy's Little Girl

Zuko was used to being unable to find any time alone.

He had started his life living in a palace, where a resident could never get more than whispering-distance from a servant, guard, or annoying/homicidal little sister. Then he had lived on a navy ship, where the metal walls were so conductive to sound that apparently the whole crew could hear, to name a random example, a young man psyching himself up while he shaved his head in the morning with affirmations about being able to defeat the Avatar. His time as a fugitive in the Earth Kingdom had involved spending nearly every hour with Uncle, except for a brief journey that he could barely remember aside from the fact that he'd been starving for most of it, and then they had lived in Ba Sing Se together in a too-cramped apartment and-

But he wasn't going to think about Uncle. That traitor. Not anymore.

And now he was back in a palace (albeit one captured from the Fire Nation's enemies and hastily redecorated with as many red banners as they could find on short notice this far west), where there were of course servants and guards again, as well as creepy Dai Li agents who looked a little too interested in what everyone was saying. Zuko had even caught some of them drawing lots to see who got to 'guard' Ty Lee.

But all of that was a normal kind of not being alone.

The squinting girl chasing him through the hallways of the Earth Palace was a new, very prominent manifestation of the old problem.

"Stop following me," Zuko growled.

"I just want to be your friend!" Squinty Mimi shouted back.

He told himself that the sound of the Dai Li agents chuckling was entirely in his imagination. "I don't want any friends!"

"Well bully for you- you're doing a great job so far!"

This time, the laughter couldn't be written off as hallucinations, not if he didn't want to be locked up somewhere for the safety of himself and squinty little girls who didn't know when to quit. "I'm not a bully! Go be friends with Azula! She seems to like you."

"I have a better idea!"

"Good! Go do that, then!"

"We should both go have dinner with Mo- Mai! She seems really nice - I mean, I know she's nice because she's always been so kind to the younger cousins and there's something like sixty-two of us - and I bet she'd enjoy being in your glowing company!"

Zuko skidded to a halt. Mimi collided with his back and Zuko reflexively reached around to catch her so that she wouldn't fall, but she turned her momentum into a spin and ended up in a Firebending stance with both arms outstretched, one aimed at Zuko and the other covering the nearest guard. It was a stance that Zuko knew Azula favored, executed perfectly.

Huh. It must be a popular style among girls these days.

Ambitious, manipulative girls who like to stick their noses in other peoples' business. "Mai doesn't want to have dinner with me, and I don't want to have dinner with her!"

Mimi snorted and straightened from her stance. "You mean you don't want to do what other people tell you to do, because you're a big baby."

"Where did you get an attitude like that? Mai barely even has a pulse."

"My dad, I guess." She crossed her arms and gave him a squinty glower that was almost aimed in the right direction. "How about you?"

Zuko answered by shoving her out of the way and stalking around the nearest corner. Thankfully, she didn't follow him down this hallway, although he did hear some echoes of her mumbling, "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid..."

He didn't know which of them she was talking about, and he didn't want to.

Izumi was still calling herself stupid as she tried on another of the Earth King's old spectacles in one of the palace's more sumptuous bedrooms (although for some reason this one had a banner hanging on the wall with a picture of a caped badgermole flying through the sky, as well as some ink drawings of fashionable ladies). This set almost made the world look right, but they were so small she had to go cross-eyed just to look through the lenses, and the arms didn't quite reach her ears. "Stupid."

She took another pair from the tray which proved to be better-sized for her face, but these lenses were so powerful that it was like looking at the world through a zucchini-shaped bowl. "Stupid."

She put on another pair that were just about perfect, but for some reason the left lens was tinted red and the right lens was blue. She put them on the bed with the other discards. "Stupid."

Why had she said that to her own father?! She should have just said that Mom had more attitude than he thought, and wouldn't he like to get to know her better and enjoy her spiky sense of humor? She should have said that everyone liked Mom, even Aunt Toph- no, wait, that hadn't happened yet.

She definitely shouldn't have made him think about Ozai. Especially not now!

This probably had something to do with being thirteen. She still wasn't quite used to it. She shuddered to think what being sixteen would be like.

"Stupid!"

The door to the bedroom opened and someone slipped in who looked like Auntie Ty Lee, but squinting revealed her to be slimmer and cuter- the young Auntie who right now was Izumi's sole ally in this mess. She closed the door behind her and said, "So, how is it going with getting your parents back together?"

"Well-"

"I only ask because your aura is a color I only see on the bottom of my shoes after rainstorms, I have no idea where Zuko is, and Mai locked herself in her bedroom with a big tray of desserts that isn't going to do her nerves any favors."

Izumi sighed. "Well, that's your answer, then. I tried convincing my dad to have dinner with her, but he was being uncooperative and then I kind of said something really nasty to him."

Auntie cocked her head. "Something nasty enough to make him go to Mai for comfort and headpats?"

"Not quite."

"Aw. But don't worry about it. Azula never quite figured that trick out, either. Maybe you'll get it next time."

Izumi frowned. "How many next-times do I have? Before when you were telling me about your time-traveling, you said something about demons coming after you because your ancestors were in danger of not getting married like they were supposed to." She let herself fall down on the nearby bed. "Mom and Dad were supposed to have their first date in Ba Sing Se, but that obviously isn't happening now, thanks to me. So here come the demons, I guess! Bully for me!"

Auntie Ty Lee came over and sat down on the bed. "I find that it helps more to focus on solving problems than your hangups about bullies or whether demons are about to eat you."

"Eat m-"

"Anyway, how was all this supposed to go? Because Mai and Zuko didn't exactly seem like they were enjoying dinner before you arrived- but that's not weird for them, either. Could have gone either way, really."

"Well, I'll tell it as I heard it a million times." Izumi motioned towards the ceiling like a Narrator character starting off a play. "In the days before Dad was banished, they had been each other's first friends, a childhood companionship that blossomed into something a little more, the beginning of a romance without quite being one."

Auntie gasped. "They were each other's first friends?! I've barely seen them talk! Mai just blushed at him whenever he was around and made humming noises, and Zuko only really started paying attention to her when she got taller than me and Azula, so I figured he just never looked down and noticed all the girls there because I was way cuter and friendly than her, no offense."

"Oh, I know you are! But they told me they first met on Ember Island, when Mom could barely talk. They ran around the beaches together all day, and Grandma told me they ended up napping together. Then when Mom's family came to the Capital, they were so excited to see each other again and played together every day for a while!"

Auntie gave a squeal so high-pitched that some of the spectacles on the tray cracked. "That's the greatest thing I ever heard! But how have I never known this wonderful secret history and why didn't they say a word to each other the whole time I knew them?"

"Maybe they got shy?"

"Well they're not shy now! They grew up and learned how to stab people! They should have been making out as soon as they laid eyes on each other!"

Izumi grabbed a pair of the spectacles and put them on her face so that she could push them up her nose like an intellectual, even though they were so strong they rendered her completely blind. "It's simple, my dear Auntie. Dad didn't feel right about everything that happened in Ba Sing Se, and he believed himself to be completely alone in life, but Mom reached out to him and reminded him of the togetherness they had enjoyed and could enjoy again. She was Dad's light in the darkness! They shared their first kiss and committed to each other, returning to the Fire Nation together."

Auntie scratched at her head. "Mai was- is- will be a light in the darkness? Wow, who would have thought? But go back to the part where Zuko doesn't feel right about everything here. I can see that in his aura, and- sure, I can definitely understand having mixed feelings about everything with his family. I mean, I ran away to join the circus and I wasn't marked and banished! But usually Zuko only defies Azula about either super-petty things or really important things. So what exactly is going on here?"

Izumi tossed away the spectacles she'd been playing with and wondered how much she could really say, here- and how much she even knew. She was well aware that Auntie Ty Lee had been loyal to the Fire Nation until she had to betray it to save Mom's life from Azula. And Mom had been loyal to the Fire Nation until she had to betray it to save Dad's life from Azula. And Dad has been loyal to the Fire Nation until he had to betray it to help save the world from Sozin's Comet and Ozai, but not Azula that one time for a nice change of pace. But she had never heard about this business of Uncle Aang being dead. And she was a bit fuzzy on all this 'fall of the Earth Kingdom' stuff, since it had lasted only a few months until Uncle Iroh-

Uncle!

Izumi snapped upright on the bed. "Bully! I know this part of the story!"

"Oh, good!" Auntie Ty Lee clapped. "Let's go save a Zuko!"

"Oh, no, we're not there, yet. I know the important part, but I still need to learn more about all of this- this context." Izumi put on the best pair of the Earth King's spectacles that she had found, which still left the world a little fuzzy and warped. "Where is Uncle Iroh?"

Auntie shrugged. "In the dungeons somewhere, I guess."

"That's what I was afraid of." Izumi gave a sigh.

"You sound so much like Mai when you do that."

Zuko was not a big believer in coincidence. Tricks and manipulations, especially when Azula was within flame-spitting distance? Yes, absolutely. Destiny and divine mandate? Of course, at least when royalty and/or a mission to find the Avatar was involved. Subconscious expressions of deep-seated trauma? Well, he'd had at least one dream about having no scar, a shaved head, and Airbender tattoos, and the less he thought about that one, the better.

So which of those had brought him to the door of Mai's bedroom?

He'd been walking without any aim, other than trying to avoid Squinty Mimi, and after what seemed like hours, he'd ended up here. He hadn't been thinking about Mai; he hadn't really been thinking at all. The movement had been the goal, a journey without a destination. But all journeys had to eventually lead somewhere, he supposed. And now he was here, getting philosophical about nearly walking into a door.

He should leave. Mai wouldn't want to see him. He couldn't think of where to go, but once again, movement was all he needed to worry about right now. He turned to escape-

The door opened and Mai stepped out holding a tray with a collection of empty plates on it. She stopped short when she noticed him and stared.

Zuko stared back.

Without taking her eyes off him, she crouched down and put the tray on the floor next to the door where the servants could take it away later.

Zuko continued staring.

Mai stared back as she stood up again.

Zuko said, "Uh-"

Mai said, "This is very awkward, and I don't like it, so it stops now. Say something natural."

"Er-" Zuko swallowed the casual and very smooth greeting he was sure he was about to say without any awkwardness at all. "I- I don't know why I'm here."

"That makes two of us." She quirked an eyebrow.

"Are-" He swallowed with some effort. "Are you mad at me?"

The other eyebrow rose to join the first. "Do you think I am?"

"I do. I- after Squ- Mimi showed up, it- we- felt different? I mean, us being around each other felt different than at that dinner trap of Azula's." He let his gaze fall to his feet. "And that felt different than before- you know, back home. With us."

"I see." Her face settled back down into absolute blankness. "And is that something you expect me to fix?"

"N- no! I- just- felt bad about it."

Mai blinked. "Oh. Go on."

Uh, oh. Zuko had rather been hoping that he'd covered everything he needed to. He was very experienced at making people like him again, but unfortunately that was all in a highly specific Avatar-centric method which wouldn't apply here. "And- and I know you have to do what Azula tells you. So I- I don't think you should feel guilty for doing what she wants. I don't hold it against you."

Mai's held tilted a bit to the side. "Zuko, I want you to know that I'm really trying to understand you. And I think you just made a big guess about what I want to hear. Is that right?"

"Yes!" He nearly wilted in relief. "How close was I?"

"I'm even more mad at you now."

"O- Oh. Then- I should go?" This somehow felt even more awkward than their earlier staring contest. Someone being mad at him was almost never this quiet and subdued.

Mai didn't answer right away. Eventually, though, she gave a single, very deliberate nod.

Zuko made himself return it. Then he turned and walked away.

He still had no idea where to go.

The door to Mai's room closed behind him with an unexpected slam.

Izumi waited beyond the corner of Uncle Iroh's dungeon cell, listening for Auntie Ty Lee's distraction and hoping that no one was about to die. Auntie had been very vague about how she was going to divert the guards, and given how weird and evil the rest of Izumi's family was acting, she was taking her mother's usual advice and mentally preparing herself for the worst in the hopes that everything else would seem better by comparison.

So it was with no small amount of relief that she heard Auntie making echoing ghost noises from somewhere unseen (and very good ones, too) which prompted the guards on duty to go looking for a disturbance while assuring each other with shaky voices that it was just the wind they had never heard before in this sub-basement.

After giving it a five-count like Auntie Suki had taught her, Izumi made her way around the corner and over to Uncle Iroh's cell.

Unexpectedly, she found herself stopping short of the door. There was a slot-window with a sliding cover, so she wouldn't need to find a way to unlock anything, which was good, and also wouldn't need to perform a daring infiltration through an air vent, which was a bit disappointing. Nevertheless, she just stood there.

She was getting to see Uncle again.

For the first time in about three years.

Because that was how long he had been dead.

He was the first person Izumi knew to die.

But he wasn't getting any deader while she hesitated here. Well, technically he was, since he was alive right now and aging normally, but not at a faster rate than any other old person locked in a damp underground cell. And who knew what this Uncle Iroh was like, considering that Mom and Dad were evil Avatar-killers or something and Auntie Ty Lee was an Ozai-follower and Azula was Azula but more energetic. However, the one part of this reality which neatly matched the stories she'd heard was that Dad and Uncle had been estranged until everyone wised up and joined up with Uncle Aang. So he was probably at least kind of close to being the Uncle Iroh she had known before he passed away. And now he was on the other side of this door with no idea who she was.

Izumi sighed. This was a whole lot of nonsense to deal with at her age.

She knocked on the door, opened the viewing-slit, and squinted through it.

She gasped.

He was just Uncle. He was sitting cross-legged at the far end of the his cell, eyes closed and back against the wall and legs folded in front of him. He had the same gentle stillness and the same regal bearing and even from here she could tell he somehow managed to still smell like tea and that bit of funk from his sandals. He was even wearing robes in the same style he always did in the Jasmine Dragon.

"Uncle," she found herself squealing.

His eyes opened and met her gaze.

He didn't smile. He didn't laugh. He didn't call her 'niece.' He didn't run over to the door and try to hold her hand through the door-slit. He didn't offer her tea.

He just frowned in confusion.

Right. Like everyone else, he didn't know her. Now. Yet. How should she introduce herself? As Mom's cousin Mimi? Did he know who Mom was? Perhaps he, like Auntie Ty Lee, had a convenient history of time-traveling and would believe whatever cockamamie story she told him?

Yeah, probably not.

"Um," she eventually said, "you don't know me, but I need your help with Zuko. That's, of course, why I called you 'Uncle.' Because he does. Of course."

He closed his eyes and said nothing.

She glanced to the side to make sure the guards weren't coming back yet and then continued, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Uncle kept his eyes closed and stayed silent.

"Can you talk? Can you hear me?"

He was as still and silent as a lukewarm pot of tea.

Izumi frowned. This was Uncle, right? He could be a very good listener, but this was ridiculous. Why was he ignoring her?

Well, if she really wanted to know, she could think through it, right? Mom always said that a minute's thought could save an hour of words.

Uncle didn't know her, here, now, yet. He was in jail. She was dressed like a Fire Nation princess. A Fire Nation ruled by his evil brother. He'd come here to Ba Sing Se to hide from Ozai, but the war had found him in the form of his oldest niece, Azula- who took away his nephew. A nephew he'd traveled with, trained, supported, made tea for, and cheered up consistently with regular music nights, according to his stories. A nephew who was now returning to Ozai's service, and Uncle probably didn't know what would become of either one of them.

Wow, this was a very depressing story if you didn't know the ending.

Uncle Iroh wasn't going to be able to help. Not like this. Not now. It was up to Izumi.

Before she left, though, she whispered through the door slot, "D- Zuko will figure it out. I know it seems like he's given up, but he hasn't. He just needs to realize it. He'll figure out who he really is and what he needs to do. And he'll do it. I promise you that. If you wait for him, he'll come back to you." She waited to see if that would have any effect, but Uncle might as well have been asleep, except for his straight back.

Izumi grabbed the cover to the slot to close it-

"Thank you," Uncle said.

Izumi smiled at him and slid it shut.

Mai was not having a good night.

Actually, she was not having a good life, overall, but this specific night was being extra frustrating and something about it seemed to be personal. She didn't know what she had done to this night to tick it off; she had never even met this night before now! But for some reason it was acting like she had murdered its father or something, even though she was doing her best to stay out of its way and not bother it.

First it had been Azula's painfully transparent attempt to trap Mai and Zuko into a romantic situation, something that Mai would have been more than happy to accept as a natural nonoccurence but which didn't work at all when forced. Case in point, Zuko - who had barely deigned to talk to her since unceremoniously rejoining the Fire Nation - now thought she was some kind of professional spy-temptress-assassin-girl seducing boys on Azula's orders, even after she had gone to all the trouble of dressing nice the whole time she'd been in Ba Sing Se and had only ever kissed drawings she'd made in her secret notebook.

And Zuko didn't even realize she'd be upset by such an accusation.

Then there was all this weirdness with Cousin Mimi. Mai would have sworn that Cousin Mui's daughter had just learned how to read, but there was no denying that Mimi looked like a member of the family. Actually, she looked close enough to be Mai's secret illegitimate sister, and that thought had given her a tiny existential crisis which had only been resolved by having dessert for dinner.

And then there was Azula's easy acceptance of the whole matter, even the part Mimi about catching pentapox, and that was confusing because Mai had been under the impression that it wasn't real. But she had to admit she didn't really keep track of Earth Kingdom plagues, nor had she bothered to ask about the details of all the rebel stuff back in Omashu, and inquiring now would just make her look stupid in front of Z- everyone.

So yes, it had been a rather trying night. And now, of course, they had this new trouble.

Mai leaned against the wall opposite the room where Zuko had been staying here in the Earth Palace and watched while the Dai Li tore it apart looking for clues. Unfortunately, instead of answers, they were mostly finding clothing that had been folded a little too precisely for a teenage boy.

Mai allowed herself another sigh and looked around for something to distract her.

And so she spotted Ty Lee and Cousin Mimi turning the hallway corner while talking quietly but with great animation. They stopped short when the Dai Li tossed a drawer they had just finished emptying out into the hall.

It was Cousin Mimi who, squinting through her undersized spectacles, spoke first with, "What's going on?"

Mai motioned at the bedroom. "They're searching the place. In about a minute, they'll realize they haven't checked under the bed yet, and then maybe their reaction will be funny. Better hurry up if you want a good seat."

The Dai Li in the room must have heard her, because they all stopped for a moment, exchanged sheepish glances, and then hurried over to lift the bed up and check underneath it. When that didn't reveal anything but a lost green sock, they went back to their ransacking.

"Oops," Mai said, "you missed it. But it didn't turn out to be very funny, anyway."

For some reason, Cousin Mimi actually smiled. That was worrying, because the only people who smiled at Mai's attempts at humor were either trying to placate her or were promising some kind of retaliation in the near future. But Mimi just said, "And what are they looking for?"

"Zuko."

Cousin Mimi's jaw dropped. She glanced at Ty Lee, whose wide-eyed expression was also unusually concerned, and then back to Mai. "What happened to him?"

Mai offered a twitch of a shoulder as a shrug. "Don't ask me. The last I saw him, he was walking away from my bedroom. (Um, I didn't let him in, so don't read too much into that phrasing.) Fifteen minutes later, the Dai Li who had been assigned to keep an eye on him reported to Azula. Apparently, Zuko slipped away and the great secret police of the Impenetrable City can't figure out how."

The Dai Li in the room all gave her annoyed glances, but Mai could only hold up her hands and say, "What? Did I say anything inaccurate?"

She hadn't, so of course they decided to ignore her and get back to work looking for clues as to where Zuko might have hidden himself.

Meanwhile, Cousin Mimi was turning her head from side to side and squinting through her borrowed spectacles like she expected Zuko to be standing just out of sight. The kid said, "And you're just doing nothing about it?"

Ty Lee winced.

Mai, however, gave no reaction. Why bother? She simply said, "I'm overseeing the search here in the palace. Azula took a contingent of soldiers into the city to try to beat him to the monorail station."

Ty Lee scratched her head. "So she thinks he's trying to get out of the city? Why, to get away from us?"

Mai decided to be circumspect about the matter. "Or to run to something potentially treasonous." She had to admit it was a real concern. Azula had been so happy about the Avatar's death that she'd actually thrown a little dance party the next day to celebrate (and the sight of Azula attempting to dance was one that would haunt Mai to the end of someone's days, hopefully not her own), but Zuko hadn't shown so much as a sliver of satisfaction, never mind happiness or even relief. Perhaps he had gone to find the Avatar's friends to apologize or something.

He wouldn't run away to join up with them.

Right?

Cousin Mimi was being very quiet, staring at her own shoes with no focus in her eyes.

Mai shoved her anxieties into the dark recesses of her own mind at knifepoint and said, "You didn't happen to murder him and hide his body, did you?"

Cousin Mimi didn't so much as look up. "Not that I recall, but I'll check with my secretary."

Mai actually snickered before she managed to strangle the reaction and pack it into the same compartment as her worries. At least the kid had a really good sense of humor. That made one person in the entire family.

Besides Mai, that is.

Then Mimi turned on her heel and began rushing away.

Mai called out, "Where are you going?"

"To go find my f- find Zuko. I know where he is."

Ty Lee raised a hand. "Should I go with you?"

"Nope! We don't want to spook him."

Mai felt like she had missed something. "Um, Azula said that no one else was to leave the palace. You're not leaving the palace, right?"

Mimi kept speed-walking.

Mai sighed and hurried after her. "Can you tell us where he is?"

"It's better if I handle it."

What in the name of the First Fire was this kid doing? She'd barely known Zuko for five minutes!

Mai put a little force in her voice and said, "I can order the Dai Li to stop you. I can stop you, and that will be even less pleasant."

Mimi came to a halt so quickly Mai nearly bumped into her. The kid spun around so quickly that Mai instinctively took a step back and reached for her knives-

-but Mimi wasn't attacking. She was clasping her hands like a beggar and giving Mai puppy-goat-dog eyes. "Pleeeease?! I promise I'll bring him back quickly and without trouble and won't tell anyone and no stops on the way there or back!"

Ugh. Now she was looking like Tom-Tom.

And if there was a chance she could bring Zuko back without any Avatar trouble-

But why did it have to be alone?

Mai turned to Ty Lee. "What do you think?"

Ty Lee immediately brightened. "Your cousin is a wise kid. I think you should let her give it a try. It's not like the timeline could thrown into more chaos at this point, right?"

Mai sighed. She was not having a good night, and Ty Lee's usual silliness wasn't helping. "Fine. But be good! Just there and back, okay?"

"Bully! I promise!" Cousin Mimi actually gave a littler celebratory hop. "Thanks, Mo- Mai! You're the best!" Then she ran off.

Mai decided to indulge in another sigh. She turned to Ty Lee and asked, "She's very annoying and mysterious. Why do I kind of like her?"

Ty Lee stared back blankly. "I have no idea how to answer that."

"Yeah, that's about what I expected." Oh, well. She might as well get a seat with a good view in case Mimi really did bring Zuko back and embarrass the Dai Li for the third time tonight.

That might almost make up for having a jerk like Zuko hanging around again.

Izumi had known she'd be able to find her dad in the Jasmine Dragon, but definitely hadn't expected him to be washing tables in the dark when she got there.

She could understand why no one else had guessed it. For her, Uncle's teashop had been a home away from home, the place her family always returned to whenever they were in the Earth Kingdom, a perfect excuse not to have to stay in the Earth Palace with those headache-inducing crystal lanterns. It was a place of warmth and family and safety as long as you didn't go out where the customers could see you and assume you were an unusually young waitress who was late bringing their order.

This Mom and Auntie Ty Lee probably didn't even know the place existed, or if they did, it was in the vaguest terms. And Azula- well, Izumi had no doubts that Azula knew all about the Jasmine Dragon, but her way of thinking was a bit too strategic to consider it first, to favor it over more practical considerations like the city's egress points. Azula hadn't fought Dad enough yet to realize he was the opposite of strategic, but admittedly betraying his ideals to side with the Fire Nation against Uncle Aang was a bit misleading.

And so it had to be Izumi to come and get her daddy. No one else would understand why he was even here.

But the table-washing was a bit of a puzzler. Dad didn't even do that when he enjoyed coming to this place.

"Hi," Izumi said into the darkness. She squinted at the floor to make sure she wasn't going to trip over a chair or something as she walked in, but everything was very neat.

"I got the chairs upright again," Dad mumbled. "I had put them up on the tables when we closed for the night for the last time. They must have fallen over when the walls were brought down."

Izumi didn't need to ask why he would bother. She had just been talking to Uncle, after all.

Dad straightened from the tabletop he'd been wiping and nodded at it. "It was covered in dust." He looked up to Izumi, her shadow in the moonlight covering the undamaged side of his face, leaving only his harshest features visible. "Why are you here?"

Well, apparently he'd been good at that kind of drama as a teenager, too. No wonder everyone hung around with someone so grumpy. "You kind of disappeared from the Earth Palace and got everyone worried. I figured you'd be here and covered for you." She crossed her arms and straightened her borrowed spectacles so that the blurry and distorted world wasn't blocked by a thumbprint. "You're welcome."

"And why would you help me?"

"I told you! I want to be your friend!"

"Why?!"

"Um, you're- the crown prince? And being friends with you comes with- lots of- um, political power?" Even Izumi could tell how hard she'd failed to make that work. She'd been warned about people trying to befriend her for power, but she'd never been very good at making friends. Honestly, she was lucky her parents' friends had so many kids who were forced to spend time with her.

Dad made a sound somewhere between a snort and a laugh at her attempt. "Do you want to try that again?"

"All right! Fine! You want to know the truth?" Izumi took a deep breath. "I'm doing this so that you and- you and Mai spend some time together and get along."

He was silent for a long moment. "That doesn't clear things up at all. You're saying it's your family chasing power? With me?"

"Well-" She squinted through her spectacles again, but they were too weak and it was too dark in here for her to see the details of Dad's face. "Hold on a second." She took the spectacles off, walked right up to him, stood up on her tiptoes, leaned into his face, and narrowed her eyes.

He took a step back and blanched at her. "Um-"

"Oh, good, you're not making a mean face." She settled back on her feet and smiled. "Because she's my family and she likes you so much and I think you can make her really happy! And you know what?"

He took another step back. "Uh, what?"

"I think she can make you happy, too!" Izumi smiled at him. "She's so pretty and she's the funniest person I know besides Uncle S- my uncle, and she cares a lot about everyone in her life and will do anything to help them and she's so gentle and smart and great! She understands everything! You should really give her a try, I highly recommend her."

He took another step back. "Um. That's- that's nice, but I- I don't think she wants to be my friend."

"Oh, of course she does." Izumi waved his objection away. "She likes everyone."

"We're talking about Mai, right? Not Ty Lee?"

"The one with the knives and the great hair."

"Yeah, that's her. She seems mad at me."

"Oh, you probably did something to deserve it. But give it time, she'll forgive you." An idea struck Izumi. She looked around at the dining room of the Jasmine Dragon, and even thought she couldn't see any details, the shape of it was the most familiar thing she'd not seen all night. "I think your uncle Iroh will, too." She gave a reassuring smile.

Dad gave her a long look. Then he snapped forward and grabbed her by the front of her tunic, yanking her off her feet so he was breathing smoke right in her face as he rasped words that were also blasts of heat, "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"I- I know he loves you. And he-" Izumi swallowed. "He doesn't agree with what you've done. Which is a good loyal Fire Nation thing, I guess? But that doesn't mean you two can't be family to each other again, someday. Unless you stay here in the Earth Kingdom and keep hiding."

He said nothing. This close, she could see every detail of his face.

Izumi said, "I'm sorry, that was mean. But I'm also sorry that it's true. I know you and your uncle will find your ways back to each other. But you have to try. I believe in family, so that's why I have to try for you."

Dad stared into her eyes and let out a growl.

Then he dropped her and turned away from her. "Get out."

"I-"

"GET OUT!"

Izumi got out before she could even think about it.

Mai hated dawns.

There was no need for the sun to be so ostentatious and arrive like a princess at her own self-organized surprise birthday party (and yes, that had been every bit as awkward for the guests as it sounded). It would be much more respectable for the sun to sidle up into the sky behind a cloud and just get on with its business, no light breaking across the horizon and coloring the lands and seas and all that business. So she usually tried to avoid seeing the dawn at all, never mind being up and dressed and waiting to board a navy warship when the sun started rising. But then, it had been a very disappointing twenty-four hours.

She waited with Ty Lee and Azula on the Royal Earth Dock while General Iroh was dragged up the ship's loading ramp in chains. She thought the dragging was a little melodramatic, as he had been walking along without resistance all the way from the dungeons, but Azula had probably been looking forward to this and wasn't going to do it without a proper dragging.

Mai heard heavy footsteps and turned to see Cousin Mimi trudging up to join the group. Her hair was tangled, she had bags under red swollen eyes, she wasn't wearing her spectacles, and she was sniffling. Mai took a step back. "You're not sick, are you?"

"Nooooo," Mimi moaned. "Zuko yelled at me last night. I didn't get a wink of sleep."

"Really," Azula said. "I would have thought the whole world was used to Zuzu's attitude by now. But to get to more important matters, you saw Zuko?"

"Yeah." Mimi sniffled again. "I think he's staying behind in Ba Sing Se."

Ty Lee gasped. "Are you sure? And we're just going to let that happen? What about the future? What about true love?"

"Wow," Mai said. True love? That had progressed fast. "Zuko's been really popular with the ladies, lately. Good for him." And also good that Mai had decided not to talk to him anymore.

Azula reached over and patted Ty Lee's head. "There, there. I agree, it is highly annoying that Zuzu isn't coming back to the Fire Nation, but as long as he isn't running off and doing something rash, I suppose he can sulk a bit longer here. Perhaps I'll return in a month and see if he's sick of living in this fetid city at the height of summer."

"Clear!" called out a solider from the deck of the warship. Ex-General Iroh was ensconced securely in his cell. It was time to board for the journey to the Fire Nation.

Mai led the way, eager to be done with all this drama and dawns and Zuko's cheer squad. Ty Lee fell in beside her, and Mimi sniffled and stumbled after them-

"Where," Azula said, "do you think you're going?" She grabbed Izumi's tunic and yanked the kid to a halt.

Mimi started to say, "I-"

"I know you were sent to keep an eye on your cousin, but I never agreed to take you into my royal retinue. You might have even chased Zuko away. Perhaps I should just leave you here to either explain your failure to your family or make your own way to the homeland. Or perhaps you can restore your honor by getting him on a ship for me. After a proper punishment, of course."

Mimi squinted at Azula. "I-" She looked to Mai. "Maybe- maybe you can stay, too?"

Mai snorted. "Pass." As if Azula would let her out of her sight now, anyway. If Iroh decided not to go quietly after all, it wouldn't be the soldiers on the ship who would make the difference. And the Avatar's crew was still out there with the Earth King and a flying bison; they could be ready to attack their ship at any moment. And why would Azula allow something that would make her latest victim feel better?

Azula was a big believer in growth through adversity. The growth being the optional part.

Mimi again said, "I-"

And then the hero arrived on his steed.

The sound of an ostrich-horse's running came first, drawing everyone's gaze to the road and the cloud of dust approaching. At the cloud's head was a birdsteeds, one of unmistakably royal quality with the size and glossiness of its feathers, probably taken from the Earth Palace without a receipt. And riding the overgrown chicken was Zuko himself, staring ahead at the dawn like he was aiming for it.

He pulled his ostrich-horse up near the ship and hopped off, marching towards the group with clear purpose.

Then he stopped, hurried back to the birdsteed, grabbed his carry-on sack, and jogged over to them. "I'm here."

Azula instantly let go of Mimi. "Zuzu! Good morning! So good of you to join us. Uncle was just-"

Zuko turned to Mimi and said, "Here." From his sleeve, he produced a pair of delicate golden spectacles and shoved them in her hands. Then he turned away and marched up the ship's ramp.

Mai snorted. "I guess he didn't have a fun night, either. So, are we done with the drama? Or do we need to make some kind of grand goodbye speech to Ba Sing Se before we go?" Azula had probably wanted one, and by suggesting it, Mai had probably ensured it would be cut from the program. And by keeping things moving, perhaps Mimi's own troubles would be passed over.

Ugh. What was it with Mai and weird cheerful stray girls? Why couldn't she collect cats like a normal weirdo?

"No, we do not." Azula nodded and followed after Zuko. "Let's go, girls. All you girls."

Mimi put the spectacles on her face. "I can see! Bully!"

Ty Lee squealed, "You can see! Yay for bullies!"

Together they clasped hands, did a little dance, and chased after Azula.

Well, so much for being done with the drama.

Mai couldn't help but feel that she was missing something. Something that Azula and Ty Lee seemed to know something about. Something that Zuko was involved in. Something that revolved around her strangely likable cousin. Something Mai was being left out of.

Whatever. It was probably something annoying, anyway.

She followed the rest of the group headed straight to her appointed cabin to hide from the dawn and sulk gorgeously.

Izumi watched from the deck of the warship - an actual war-era destroyer gleaming like new - as Ba Sing Se was left behind. A contingent of the Dai Li were still gazing after the ship, maybe missing Azula already, so she waved goodbye to them, even though they dumb and jerks and some kind of evil secret police according to the history books.

After all, why not? She was in a good mood. True love had won. Dad was coming back to the Fire Nation with Mom, and getting them together would just be a matter of pushing their faces near each other until they started kissing. All was well, and the timeline was safe, as was Izumi's future existence. And once that was done, she just had to find a temple like Ty Lee had and use it to get back home. No big deal. Not with the help of her loving and stable and only slightly evil (but that would get better) parents.

Above Ba Sing Se, a breeze carried a swarm of pink plum blossoms out to the docks. They settled on the ground behind the formation of Dai Li.

How picturesque. It was a perfect way to leave the city.

And then, without any wind, the plum blossoms gathered.

They tumbled towards each other and clustered together, forming a pile that grew upwards. They formed a pillar about half the size of a man, behind the Dai Li, and then began taking a shape. It was an unpleasant shape, with two reverse-hinged legs and gangly arms and an oversize head. Still, as unpleasant as it was, it could almost be seen as funny at this distance.

Then it opened a pair of eyes that reflected the dawn with blood-red light, and it seemed to be looking right at Izumi.

Another breeze came along, scattering the plum blossom petals and carrying them out to sea.

Towards the ship.

Izumi screamed and ran and didn't stop running until she was hiding under her mother's bed. Which was a bit awkward since Mom was already there trying to lounge in a pouty way, but Izumi still managed to stay put for the whole morning.

TO BE CONTINUED