I know you've been waiting years for this. It's late, but finally here!

"Fouquet of the Crumbling Earth, I presume?"

Fouquet opened her eyes. Through the bars of her cell, she could see a hooded figure standing by the door. A ring of keys gently jingled in his hand. Given his lack of armor and companions, she doubted he was one of the royal guards.

The thief rose from her bed and swung her legs over the edge, sitting as primly as one could when locked in a dingy cell. Resting her chin in the palm of her hand and leaning forward, she replied, "That's me, but who are you?"

"Your new employer."

Fouquet narrowed her eyes. "I wasn't aware that I had taken a new assignment," she replied. She kept her voice light in an attempt to conceal her wariness. "And I'm normally a free agent too…"

"I suppose I am putting the cart before the horse," the man admitted. "But I don't think you have much of a choice. Do you, Miss Matilda de Saxe-Gotha?"

The woman froze.

The man smirked from beneath his hood. "Don't worry, your true identity has not been revealed to the authorities."

"And yet you know."

The man tilted his head. "You're not even going to deny it?"

"I'm not stupid," Matilda scoffed. "My name is not well-known, especially after what's been happening in Albion. Lying wouldn't do me any good here. Besides, as you said, it's not like I have any say on the matter."

"Don't get me wrong," the man replied. "I'm not threatening you. However… you know that you'll never leave the capital alive if you remain in this cell."

"I've avoided any crimes higher than theft and the occasional battery. That's not enough to get me charged with a death sentence," Matilda argued. "All I have to do is play my cards right, and I'll get out of here eventually."

"Do you truly believe that?"

Matilda bit the inside of her lip. "It's the best chance I have."

"You broke into the Vault while the princess was present," the man reminded her. "That could be taken as a crime against the crown. Additionally, you spent weeks infiltrating the most prestigious school in all of Halkegenia! That's an embarrassment to the entire country. No, the great Fouquet of the Crumbling Earth will not be tried like any common criminal." He tutted as he shook his head. "You will be made an example of. A warning for any would-be imitators. No amount of bargaining or begging will save you."

"And what? Should I go with a random stranger and get executed once I step outside?" Matilda countered. "A slim chance is better than none. If I'm going to die either way, I'll die hedging my own bets instead of following someone else's whims."

The man paused. "I see. You trust no one but yourself to the end."

"Treachery is more plentiful than honesty in the world."

"A truer statement never spoken," he agreed. "However, I didn't think you were the type to leave yourself in the hands of the ones who killed your family. The same regime who left you and your sister orphans and homeless?"

Matilda's silence spoke on her behalf.

The man stretched out his hand through the bars. "Join me, Matilda. Join the Reconquista. Together, we will get revenge on the people who wronged us and bring this world to a glorious new era. Or, you can remain in that cell. Rotting away until your oppressors decide to discard you. The choice is yours."

Matilda pushed herself off the cot and strode to the door. "And here I thought I didn't have a choice?"

"A choice between a fruitless death and a fulfilling life hardly classifies."

The thief smiled as she shook the man's hand. "Then I suppose I would be a fool to not take this opportunity."

"I'm glad you were quick to see reason," he replied. He withdrew his hand and opened the door to the cell, beckoning her forward before resecuring the now empty cell. There was no point in "Now for your first assignment, I have a small job for you in Albion."

"Good. Anything's better than staying here and dealing with that monster again."

The man paused. "Monster?"

"Whatever freak the Valliere girl summoned."

"Oh?" The voice betrayed interest. "Tell me more."

"He's a monster," she reiterated. "Plain and simple. When he came after me…" She shook her head. "I doubt he's even human."

"I heard that he started glowing and flying around with the force of a square class mage," the man remarked.

"It was more than that." Matilda sounded insulted by how casually the man treated Aang's display of power. "His presence was… otherworldly. And when he had me dead to rights…."

After several seconds of waiting, "What could the child have done to leave the great Fouquet speechless at the memory?" the man quipped.

The thief glared at him. "Just before I passed out, he was reaching out to me. I don't know what he was doing, but I swear, for a moment, he wasn't a boy, but a ghost of a man."

"A ghost?" was the scoffing response.

"Laugh all you want, but I know that whatever Valliere summoned isn't a child prodigy, but some inhuman monster wearing the skin of a boy."

"Yeah!" Aang whooped as he whizzed through the air on his glider. He soared up high and dove low enough to rustle the leaves from the tops of the trees. Corkscrews and loop de loops were done on passing whims as he made the most of the long flight.

Louise and Wardes watched from the back of Wardes's griffon, their faces like those of two parents watching their child make a game out of a simple walk. Exasperation, but laced heavily with amusement.

Originally, the plan was for Aang to ride on horseback while Wardes flew his griffon with Louise, but that was quickly discarded for two reasons. One, Aang knew how to ride on multiple mounts, but he had never seen, let alone ridden, a horse before. Two, Aang could fly. Or, glide, as he called it, but it was essentially flying. So, the arrangement was altered for Aang to fly alongside the griffon that was carrying the two mages.

While Aang wanted to rush to the port city, Wardes wanted to take it slowly and reach there the next day. That way, they wouldn't be exhausted when they arrived, and would have the entire day to find a ship that would take them to Albion.

When they stopped to make camp for the night, Wardes decided to make conversation.

"We'll be traveling together for a few days, and I'm curious to know more about what my fiancé has been doing recently," the viscount said. "And of course, I would like to get to know you properly, Aang."

"Sounds great!" Aang replied enthusiastically. "There's something that I've been dying to ask."

"Which is?" Wardes proded.

"How did Louise become your fiancé?" Aang asked. "You're a viscount and military captain, and Louise hasn't even graduated the academy." Halkegenia seemed to function like the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, where nobility was important, but their difference in stations made it strange for them to be engaged this early in Louise's life.

"Aang!" Louise's shout sounded scandalized.

Wardes, on the other hand, laughed. "I suppose now is as good a time as any to ask," he replied. "I met Louise some time ago, when I had just become of age. While I was the head of my family house, I had not yet acquired the titles I have now. The Valliere family had the goodwill to sponsor me as I attempted to earn a place serving the royal family. Later, they offered me Louise's hand in marriage. While most people looked at Louise and saw a cripple, I saw something more."

The airbender waited with wide eyes for Wardes to elaborate. When he didn't, the boy said, "So, it was a family alliance?" he guessed.

"Alliance? Well, you could call it that," Wardes said with amusement. "However, one side clearly had more to offer than the other."

"Is Louise's family that small?"

Louise choked and sputtered. "Small?!"

"Aren't that what political marriages are for?" Aang asked. "If Wardes is an up-and-coming head of house, and your family offered to sponsor him and marry you to him…" his voice trailed off as he took in Louise's indignation with Wardes's thinly veiled amusement. "I'm missing something, aren't I?"

"Did you not explain your heritage to him?" Wardes asked Louise.

"Of course, I—" Louise blinked. Squinted. Pondered. "Umm… no. That might have slipped my mind."

Aang blinked owlishly in Louise's direction, signaling her to spill on the totally-not-secret information that he was supposed to have already known.

"My father is Duke Sandorion de la Valliere," Louise said. "And my mother is Duchess Karin of the Heavy Wind, the most powerful Wind Mage in Tristan, no, the entire Halkegenia!"

Aang stared at Louise, stupefied. "Huh."

"You could have a better reaction," Louise accused him.

"It sounds impressive," said Aang hesitantly, "but what's a Duke?"

"How do you not know what—" Louise cut herself off mid-outburst. "Right, you're not from Halkegenia."

At that, Wardes raised an eyebrow.

"A Duke is someone who rules a Duchy," Louise explained. "They are considered the highest class of nobles, right below the royal family."

"Oh. Oh," Aang said it finally clicked. "That explains why you were so close to the Princess. You and Princess Henrietta would be first or second cousins, right?"

"That's correct," Louise replied after a moment of surprise. "We are first cousins. That's the part you understood?"

Wardes laughed. "You may not be familiar with our titles and customs, but you are surprisingly well-learned aren't you, Aang?"

"I guess you could say that," Aang said with a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his head. While the monks had taught him a lot at the temple, his knowledge of politics was mostly from personal experience. "What about you, Wardes?" he asked, deflecting the attention to the viscount. "Who's your family?"

The viscount didn't reply right away, his expression unreadable. His gaze was turned to horizon, but his eyes were set on something that dwelled far beyond the realm of the sunken sun.

After a moment, he opened with a warning, "It's not the most interesting tale. I lost my mother at a young age to disease. My father was a baron. To raise our family's standing, he joined the ranks of the army. In a skirmish with Gallia he died, leaving me as the heir before I had even come of age. It was hard, trying to continue my education while managing an estate. Nearby nobles kept trying to poach on my family's few remaining assets, which made my duty all the more difficult."

"Ah… I'm sorry for asking," Aang said sincerely. "I should have realized."

"Oh, Wardes…" Louise knew that he had lost his parents at early age, but she hadn't heard the struggles he'd gone through until now.

Her fiancé offered her soft smile. "I was lucky that I had the favor of the Valliere family. Louise's family respected my father's sacrifice and offered me political support so I could reach adulthood without losing my family's assets. After I started to rise on my own achievements and took an interest in Louise, they were quick to offer an engagement. I treasure her dearly, even more then the bond between our houses."

There was something in Wardes's voice that made Aang think there was more to the story, but the topic felt heavy enough already. "That's a lot of dedication," he praised the man. "Most people in your position would have given up."

"Ambition doesn't falter so easily in the face of adversity," said Wardes with confidence. "But enough about myself, what is your story, talented young mage of faraway lands?"

The moment of truth. Aang was now wishing he had spent more time thinking about how much he would share. They probably wouldn't believe he was a dead man who had been incarnated—if that was the right word—as his younger self.

"Well, I was raised in an Air Temple, a place where monks live and train in the way of airbending," Aang said. "I was a prodigy, earning my airbending tattoos at twelve years old, a new record for the temple. And… um." He idly scratched his thigh before blurting out, "IwassuppossedtobetheAvatarbutIpanickedandranaway."

Louise and Wardes stared at him uncomprehendingly.

"You're running from home?" Wardes questioned him.

Aang let out a deep breath. "No. I ran from home, but I made some friends and returned to the temple. But when we got there… Gyatso, and all the monks, were dead."

Louise's face paled. "You saw their bodies?" she gasped.

"That's not something a child should see," Wardes noted, his voice oddly detached.

"N-no!" Aang was quick to assure them. He didn't want them thinking he was a traumatized child. "They were attacked by firebenders, but by the time I saw the bodies they were already skeletons."

Unfortunately, that merely switched the focus from Aang's visual trauma to the fact that someone had burned everyone he had considered family until they were reduced to bone. After all, he hadn't said how long he had run away, so they assumed given his apparent age he hadn't been on the road for more than a year.

Louise immediately went pale, unable to find the words to voice her horror.

"Why would they do such a thing? Were your countries at war?" Wardes asked, looking slightly disturbed.

"The Fire Lord said it was because we were dangerous and we were preparing for war, but the monks were all pacifists. Airbenders don't start wars."

"War propaganda," Wardes said with a knowing nod. "A practice that transcends all cultures for leaders to justify their deeds."

"That's evil," Louise hissed, her horror giving way to rage. "Waging war for their own self interests. Massacring innocent people!"

Wardes rested a hand Louise shoulder. The girl slightly relaxed at his touch.

"It's interesting that wind mages would choose to be pacifists," Wardes said conversationally, gently easing the subject to something slightly less traumatizing. "Water mages are healers, but wind mages specialize in transportation. I'd say they are second in importance in war, only fire mages are more valuable due to the damage that fire spells can do.

"Aren't earth mages important for building and destroying fortifications?" Louise questioned.

"War is won by logistics more than combat, my dear Louise," Wardes explained to her.

"We may not be able to heal, but our culture isn't based on what we do, but what our element stands for," Aang explained. "Air is freedom. As airbenders, we want to live peaceful, simple lives away from trouble and violence."

"A philosophical rather than practical view, how interesting," Wardes mused. "You certainly are an intelligent young monk."

"Eheh…" Being compared to a kid by someone younger than any of his kids would never not be weird to Aang. "It actually is practical. Bending comes from physical and spiritual harmony. The motive behind why someone bends influences how their bending comes out."

"That is an interesting mindset," Wardes said simply. "I'm sure there are some scholars who have had similar debates on the effect of Willpower on a mage's spells."

The viscount had a pretty good poker face, but Aang could tell that the man wasn't fully believing—or understanding—what he was saying. Still, he decided to try to give Wardes some helpful context.

"Well, here's the thing, bending and magic aren't exactly the same…"

I'll be honest, I got stuck when writing this chapter. It was originally going to stretch further, but I eventually decided to just let it set up the arc and leave everything else for later. I have a general idea of how this story is supposed to go and where to end it, but Wardes interacting with Aang gave me some trouble. I was originally going to have him underestimate Aang completely, but with Fouquet's experience he should have some caution. The Albion Mission is going to be hard for Aang because he wouldn't want to fight, but there's so much going on that he can't easily ignore. I want to keep everyone in character but also keep the current tone of the story, which will be a difficult balancing act.

BTW, Fouquet does have her magic still. I know some people were suspecting Aang had removed it. It was a good guess with the clues, but slightly off the mark. It'll be fully revealed when she meets Aang again.

This seems to be my most popular story on all platforms I upload (except Ao3, they prefer my BOFURIxSAO independent crossover). I try to keep my readers in mind when dividing my writing time, but sometimes mental blocks happen. I still haven't dislodged this one. Might have to outline the entire arc in detail to figure out where things aren't clicking.

Next week I'll upload a chapter for Iroh to make up for my lack of A:tLA content. Sound good?

Reviews are food for a writer's soul!