Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: Maybe one about an Avatar from the distant past so they have freedom to really raise the stakes of the story.

Zigzagdoublezee: Yes, it's a detail from the Yangchen novels, where Yangchen has a friendly sports rivalry with Nuns from a different temple.

As Always, Please Review!

The sound of shouting grabbed Zuko's attention as he trudged through the town next to Chen.

Now that he was behind Earth Kingdom fortifications, Zuko was beginning to feel a lot safer. The Avatar and her companions had left too, without outing him, so although they had been altogether too hostile, even ungrateful for his liking, he was at least thankful for that.

"What's going on?" He asked Chen. The girl just shook her head, as confused as he was.

The refugee column began to troop through the main square of the town, and Zuko immediately saw they were not the only large group of people there. On the other side of the square stood a building with a balcony on the upper floor and a sign which proclaimed it to be an inn. And around this hotel was a large, angry, mob. They were using earthbending to rock the building's foundations, as a visibly frightened man clinging on to the balcony for dear life tried to reason with them.

The man was wearing the red of the Fire Nation.

"Sorry, got to go, be back soon!" Zuko told Chen and then dashed towards them, curious and alarmed at the man's treatment. If the was from the Fire Nation, he knew why he was being targeted but he still wanted to know what he was doing there.

"Wait- Li, where are you going?" Chen called after him. "Come back!"

She began pushing through the crowd after him.

Zuko was focussed on the man above him, straining his ears to hear what he was saying."

"I'm sorry!" The man was begging. "We didn't know any of this would happen! We just want to go home!"

"Ash-maker!" The crowd chanted. "Ash-maker, ash-maker, ash-maker!"

Zuko reached the back of the crowd, and Chen caught up a moment later.

"What are you doing here?" Zuko demanded. "This is dangerous!"

"My entire life has been dangerous for the past few weeks, I think I'll be fine," Chen pointed out. "Besides, you fought a tank, didn't you?"

"That was one tank! This is a whole mob!"

"They don't want us, do they?" Chen said "We're Earth Kingdom. It's the Fire Nation they're angry with."

She paused.

"You're not planning anything stupid, are you?"

Zuko looked up at the man and sighed. He knew he should leave him, carry on to Ba Sing Se and pretend he never saw this. But he was still the Prince of the Fire Nation, and these were his people about to pay the price for a decision that had nothing to do with them.

"I can't leave these people to the mob," he said.

"Why not? They're Fire Nation!" Chen demanded. "Remember what they've been doing!"

I'm Fire Nation too, Zuko thought. But he didn't say it.

"That doesn't mean they deserve mob justice!" He said instead. "Not for something they didn't even do!"

"They could be spies!" Chen pointed out.

"What kind of spy would knowingly go around in enemy territory in his own national dress?" Zuko pointed out. "A stupid spy."

"It's pretty stupid to go around in Fire Nation national dress right now for any reason though," Chen said. Zuko couldn't disagree, but that still didn't mean the man deserved to die for it.

"I have to get them out of here," he said. "Which means I need to get in."

"Through the big angry mob?" Chen pointed out.

Zuko looked around frantically. Then he realized that the building the Fire Nation man was trapped in was connected to two other buildings on either side of it.

"Not through them," he began running to the side. "Over them!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chen demanded. "Who are you, anyway?"

Zuko stopped in front of one of the buildings about fifty metres away, and looked for a handhold to climb up. Then he just shrugged and knocked on the door.

"Well?" Chen repeated as he bounced on his heels waiting. "Who?"

"I told you," Zuko said. "I'm Li."

"Hello?" An old woman opened the door. "Who is it?"

"Hello, could I use your roof please?" Zuko barged in as soon as the question was asked, looked for the stairs and began taking them two at a time.

"What-" Chen furiously apologised to the woman and then followed him. "You can't do that!"

"Watch me!" Zuko shouted over his shoulder as he ran out of stairs and emerged into the third floor. He dashed into a room and hoped to see some kind of ladder or staircase leading on to the roof.

No such luck, the architects of this place clearly weren't going to make his life that easy. He opened the window, and got a clear view of the size of the mob. The man had retreated from the balcony, probably a sensible decision, and people were banging on the doors demanding to be let in.

Chen burst in behind him.

"Are you mad?" She demanded.

"Do you want to help those people or not?" Zuko asked, his leg out of the window.

Chen looked back at him helplessly.

"Yes, but-" she started. "Do you have to?"

"Is someone else going to do it? Everyone else here hates them!"

"You might die!" She said. "You could fall, or be captured by the mob or something! It's not too late to come back!"

"I have to," Zuko said simply. "I'll meet you back at the cart."

He reached up, and managed to find a handhold, hauling himself out of the window. For a moment he became aware of what he was doing and nearly let go, teetering dangerously, but grabbed on even tighter at the last moment, eyes wide with fear. He managed to get up on to the roof and lay flat, breathing heavily, for what felt like an eternity. The sky stretched above him, pristine and untouched, a far cry from the chaos beneath.

"Li?" Chen called from beneath him. Zuko rolled over and shuffled toward so only his head was sticking over the edge, facing down. Chen looked up at him from where she was leaning out of the window.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"By the skin of my teeth, yes," Zuko called down. "I'm just getting my breath back."

"Good!" And Chen began putting her leg out of the window too.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Zuko asked urgently.

"Coming with you!"

"Why? I nearly fell!"

"But you didn't!" Chen pointed out.

"You could fall!" Zuko called down.

"Not if you give me your hand and help me up!" Chen told him.

Zuko supposed that was true, she had an advantage in that he could help her.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

Chen didn't look sure, as she looked down and Zuko could see the fear written across her face. Then her face set.

"Yes," she said, reaching up for him. Zuko grabbed her hand and pulled with all his might. For a moment, Chen yelped as she was suspended in space, and Zuko feared he was going to drop her; but then her other hand was gripping the ledge and she was scrambling to safety.

She joined him laying flat on the roof, contemplating the sky.

"I shouldn't have done that," she said. Zuko didn't say anything in response.

For a moment, all was calm and serene on their rooftop, the only sound their breaths gradually slowing as they calmed down.

After a while Zuko sat up, making sure he was far away from the edge.

"Why did you come with me?" He asked. "You didn't have to."

Chen sat up too.

"... I don't know," she said slowly. "I suppose a friend needed my help."

"What, do you know that man?" Zuko pointed at the balcony.

"What?" Chen glanced sharply at him. "No, the friend is you."

"Oh," Zuko's face glowed with embarrassment. Chen smirked as he got to his feet, being careful to stay low to minimise the chance of falling. He was also trying not to focus on the guilt.

"Thanks," he said. "For everything."

Then he looked towards the inn where his countrymen were in danger.

"We need to get moving, I don't know how much longer they've got."