Aang and Toph rejoined the group as the sun went down. Aang plopped onto the ground with a dramatic sigh. Toph bent a stool for herself.

"Sounds like you had fun," Sokka snickered.

"If that's your version of fun, then I don't want to play," Aang retorted without bite. Then he fell fully onto his back. "Why's it gotta be so hot in the Earth Kingdom?"

""The map says we're close to a giant desert." Sokka shrugged. "Deserts are hot. At least we don't have to walk it."

Katara stood up. "There's a shallow creek just around the bend that we can cool off in, Aang. Matthew's already over there."

"Oh!" The airbender sat up again, all traces of fatigue gone. "Maybe Matthew'll want to see some waterbending up close!"

The sun was sinking into the west. The fire was lit, the ostrich-horse was hitched to a tree, and the sleeping rolls were out.

"Those were some of the tastiest camp rations I've ever tried! Whatcha put in there?"

And for some reason, the foreigner of a thousand questions was still here.

"Oh, just some spices that I keep at the bottom of my pack," Uncle answered modestly. "I've always found that flavorful food can improve any journey."

The blond nodded appreciatively. "Good call. I've had a few too many officers who failed to see the connection between food and moral."

Zuko was suddenly very interested. "You're military?"

Alfred clearly hesitated. "I, uh, have been."

"High ranking, too," Iroh supposed curiously. "If your peoples' military is organized anything like ours, that is."

"Ah—well, I dunno how you guys have it set up…" he petered off into a long silence. Proving that he did indeed have the ability to stop talking.

But only when he was afraid he'd said too much.

Zuko watched the stranger carefully. Alfred hadn't even commented on the small portions, as most regular people would. Which means he'd done something like this before…or had at least gone hungry before.

That alone wouldn't be enough to be suspicious over. But if Alfred had known officers, and also spoke High Court…well. That was a whole different kettle of catfish-eels.

"Alfred, would you mind taking the first watch tonight?" Iroh asked out of nowhere. Zuko's head whipped around to deliver a sharp glare. Iroh pretended he had not seen it as he added, "New recruit traditionally gets first shift, after all."

The blond (who had at some point regretfully recovered from his odd bout of silence) popped into a standing position. "Not a problem. I'll be over by that tree." He moved to sit against the base of the trunk, partially hidden by shadow. His recently acquired hammer was laid next to him within easy reach.

Zuko thought this was a Bad Idea. However he took the opportunity anyway as he muttered in the Common Language to Uncle, "Do you have any idea who he is?"

"I do not recognize him," Iroh answered, equally quiet. "But I am retired, and we have been in exile for just over three years now. It is not only possible, but likely, that Ozai has spies and officers that I've never met."

"No one would make someone that visible into a spy," Zuko stated with certainty. "Too loud. And with his hair—"

"That's what everyone would think," Iroh pointed out. "Which would make him the most unexpected dagger in the night, don't you think?"

"And so you want him to take first watch, because?"

Iroh smiled enigmatically. Like he knew something that Zuko didn't. Or at least thought he did. It was one of his more infuriating habits. He gave a hugely exaggerated yawn as he climbed into his sleeping roll. "Goodnight, Nephew." He was snoring almost immediately.

He'd totally done that on purpose.

Aang and Katara turned the corner to see Matthew pulling on his shoes, his hair wet. He looked up and greeted them with a shy smile. "Hello, Katara. Hello, Aang."

Katara beamed proudly. They'd made a lot of progress in just one day, all things considered. It was like Matthew had a natural affinity for languages.

"Hey, Matthew!" Aang greeted enthusiastically. "Ready to see something fun?"

Matthew frowned in concentration as he attempted to decipher Aang's question. "I, uh—I don't…understand?"

But they still had a long way to go before Matthew would be able to understand them completely.

Katara joined him by the creek's edge. "Watch." She slowly streamed the water out of the creek and formed it into a ball. She froze it, and offered it to Matthew. "Here."

Matthew blinked, and reached out to touch it uncertainly. "This is…earthbending?"

"Nope," Aang said, crouching next to them. "Waterbending."

Matthew nodded and tried out the new word. "Wata…bending."

"Waterbending," Katara corrected gently. "Wa-ter-bend-ing."

"…Waterbending," Matthew repeated, accented but understandable. He began tossing the ice ball from right to left.

"Good job!" Aang praised. He stood upright. "Now you wanna see some cool waterbending?"

Matthew tilted his head uncomprehendingly.

"I'll take that as a yes!"

Katara rose gracefully to her feet. "Don't go overboard, Aang. There isn't much water here."

"I won't, I won't," Aang reassured dismissively. "It'll only take a little bit." He raised his hands before him, and made a grandiose pushing motion. The water responded by making a small wave. Aang suspended the wave, and twisted it up towards the sky. He then separated it, and froze it into a freestanding corkscrew sculpture. When he collapsed it, he did so from the top so that the melting water would travel down the sculpture and slide into the creek.

"When did you learn to do that?" Katara asked, rather fascinated. "I've never seen it before."

"I made it up myself!" Aang explained happily. "Pretty cool, huh Matthew?"

There was no answer.

Aang craned his neck to see past Katara. "Helloooo? Were you even paying attention?"

Katara turned about to see that the blond wasn't looking at them at all. He was staring at his hand, dazed confusion evident in his expression. "Matthew?"

The blond looked up at them, and then down at his hand. He held it up for them to see. "Wet."

Aang raised an eyebrow. "Yeah…you touched water."

Matthew made a frustrated noise. "I—the—i-it, uh…" The blond finally sighed and shook his head in defeat. "No."

"'No'?" Katara repeated dubiously. "What's no?"

Matthew shook his head again, wiping his hand dry on his trousers. "I can't...er…words."

"You're alright then?" Aang queried. "For now, at least?"

Matthew stood up with a shrug. "Hungry."

Zuko couldn't sleep. He'd been trying for the better part of an hour. He couldn't sleep knowing that his safety rested in the hands of this odd stranger that Zuko had only met that morning. What was Uncle thinking?

He turned over to regard Alfred's shadowed form against the tree. Alfred wasn't sleeping on the job, at least.

Ten minutes later, and the blond still hadn't dozed. He hadn't tried to kill them in their sleep yet, either. Or…made any noise for that matter. He hadn't even moved.

Which was probably the most unnerving thing about this situation. Even the most hardened soldiers shifted occasionally. Or coughed. Or grunted. This statue-like state was nearly inhuman.

"Why bother keeping watch if you're going to stay awake?" Alfred asked quietly, the moonlight reflecting against his spectacles as he turned his head to finally acknowledge Zuko. "Go to sleep."

"I can't," Zuko rasped back. "Let me take over watch."

"No point," Alfred said bleakly. It was like his voice had aged fifty years. "I can't sleep either."

Zuko sat up, trying to see the blond's expression in the meager light of the dying embers of the campfire. "Why not?"

Alfred was quiet for a long time. So long that Zuko began wondering if he'd even been heard. Until finally, "I want to go home."

"Nothing's stopping you," Zuko pointed out, perhaps too hopefully.

"I can't," Alfred retorted bitterly. "Trust me, I don't want to be here anymore than you want me here. I went to sleep in my own bed. In my own world. A world with normal animals and normal languages and normal people who can't make things fly around with fancy moves."

Zuko frowned. "You mean bending?"

"Bending is some fairy tale bullshit that defies all the laws of physics and frankly gives me a headache when I try to think about how it works." The blond grimaced, and sighed. "I have responsibilities back home. Big ones. My job's probably falling apart right now, and…my brother must be worried sick."

If Alfred was a spy, he was very bad at it. Or very good at it.

"So how do you know High Court?" Zuko asked, trying to poke holes in this story. "And…only High Court? It only gets spoken in the Fire Nation."

"Oooh there's a Fire Nation, now?" Alfred scoffed. "Is there a Wood Nation, too? Grass Kingdom? The Oddly Specific Combustible Gasses Confederacy?"

Zuko raised an eyebrow, unamused by his dismissiveness. "The Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, and the Water Tribes."

Alfred stretched his arms high and luxuriously above his head. "Youuuuuu guys suck at names." He scooted slightly to face Zuko better. "Just three?"

"There were four," Zuko explained shortly. "The Air Nomads are extinct."

"How?"

Zuko considered how to answer him. Evasively he surmised, "They were all killed."

Alfred looked like he was about to ask harder questions, so Zuko held up a hand. "Uncle can explain it better than me. But you never answered my question."

Alfred tilted his head curiously. "What question?"

The exiled prince gave him a look.

The blond didn't play dumb for long. He shrugged helplessly. "I dunno how our worlds share a language. It's not even my first one. Back home it's not 'High Court'. It's close to something we call Japanese…with a bunch of random Hindi loanwords. So far it's had a pretty standard pattern."

"How did you learn it?" Zuko pressed.

"A friend of mine," Alfred said breezily. "But his people can't move fire like you guys do."

If this was all true (and despite himself, Zuko was beginning to believe it), then Alfred was very, very lost.

Zuko felt shades of what might've been guilt settle in. High Court was not a good language to know in the Earth Kingdom. Alfred's appearance alone was enough to make him an outcast. He'd been unbelievably lucky when he met the only two people on this continent that could even understand him. Which still didn't make this Zuko's problem, but…still. "I'm—sorry about that. I know what it's like to miss home. I wish I could go back to mine."

"You're lost, too?"

"You could say that," Zuko answered. "I'd rather not explain."

The two fell into a mutual quiet. Cricket-beetles could be heard somewhere in the brush nearby. The ostrich-horse snorted in its sleep.

Alfred fiddled with his jacket, and released a sad little chuckle. "Desperate people. Iroh said there were a lot of those 'round these parts. We fit right in."

Zuko studied the ground. "Lately I've noticed that war does that."

"War?" Alfred sounded apprehensive. "There's a war going on?"

"One hundred years and counting."

Alfred whistled lowly. "Wow."

"Yeah."

They became silent again, and Zuko was beginning to feel safe enough to be tired.

"Three nations," Alfred muttered, as if to himself. "I wonder if they're lonely…"

"Lonely?" Zuko asked incredulously. "How does an entire nation get lonely?"

"Oh, er—sorry," Alfred stammered. "I was thinking—you know—trade and like, cultural stagnation and, um…"

Zuko was grateful for the darkness concealing his probably rather dubious expression, but it did nothing to conceal the yawn that came a few seconds later.

"You should get some sleep," Alfred reminded him. "You're cranky enough as it is. I don't wanna know how bad you get without sleep."

"'M not cranky," Zuko mumbled in light protest, already crawling back into his bedroll. Sleep suddenly sounded like a good idea.

Toph wriggled her toes thoughtfully. The new guy was weird. Weirder than even everyone else knew. Like at first glance, or in passing, he was fine enough at passing himself off as just a guy. Except Toph could 'see' him…very well. Nearly as well as earth.

"What'cha thinking about?" echoed Sokka's voice as he came up behind her. He plopped down on the rock next to her.

"Nothing important," Toph shrugged.

"Is it Matthew?"

Toph frowned slightly. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, you're kinda staring-but-not really hard in his general direction."

"Hm." Toph sniffed. "Well, you're not wrong. There's something strange about him."

"I could'a told you that," Sokka pointed out drily.

Toph rolled her eyes. "I mean in a way you couldn't see."

"Not gonna apologize for that," Sokka yawned. "Well, it's late. So I'm going to bed. You and Matthew can bond over your mutual weirdness."

Toph made sure to punch him in the arm before he got up.

Matthew had moved at some point, but he wasn't hard to locate. Even from the far end of the camp she could feel him clear as day. He didn't notice when she went to sit nearby, being occupied by what felt like…contemplation? A panic attack? His steadily tapping foot lit up his tall form in her mind's eye.

Toph let this continue for a while longer before finally breaking the silence. "Something's bothering you."

Matthew paused and gave a soft hum of uncertainty. He didn't understand her. Toph frowned, thinking. How does a blind person break a language barrier?

"H-Home," Matthew said experimentally. "I want…home."

"You want to go home," Toph nodded. "I could see that." Then she paused deliberately before asking, "Where is home?"

"Home is…Canada," Matthew answered. "North America?"

Toph shrugged to show her ignorance of such a place. "Sorry, Matthew."

Matthew picked up a rock, contemplated it, and threw it. Toph was surprised at how far away it landed. She almost didn't catch that…something…about Matthew when it cropped up again, just as he was throwing. A peculiar otherness. He sighed, and it was gone again as quickly as it came.

"I can't wait until you can talk," Toph mused aloud, even knowing that he wouldn't understand. "We've clearly got something to discuss."

I know, I know, another slow chapter. Things'll pick up soon enough.

Later dudes. ^J^