Hot Ice, Strange Snow

by Redbayly

Destiny is a funny thing. A split-second decision results in Zuko being injured during the escape from Pohuai Stronghold. Aang is determined to turn an enemy into a friend and, despite their doubts, Sokka and Katara find themselves also starting to better understand their erstwhile pursuer. For Katara and Zuko, this new understanding could even lead to something more.

13. Change in the Wind

After watching the new live-action Avatar series, I have two words for my fellow Zutarians: Blue scarf.

I honestly don't even know where to begin with my reasons why I'm late updating this time. Between conferences, nearly getting killed by a truck while driving on the interstate, and my mother getting appendicitis, things have been kinda crazy.

Change in the Wind

Things were finally getting back on track.

They'd found Katara, had breakfast, and got some extra supplies from the exceedingly helpful bandits. Sokka even got to talk with some fellow warriors about weapons. Swords were a popular choice and Sokka found his gaze drawn to the blades. Sokka noticed that a few people chose to give their weapons fancy or flowery names. Sokka preferred to just call his weapons what they were. His boomerang was 'Boomerang' and his machete was 'Machete' and so on.

In the Water Tribe, you weren't supposed to be too attached to things. Sure, people liked to pass down weapons and tools and stuff like that to their children and grandchildren, but if those things got lost or damaged, a person was expected to simply move on and find another. You couldn't sit around and mope because you lost your favorite hunting knife, you could just get a new one and go back to work.

Still, there seemed to be a special bond between the warriors and their swords. Like the swords were their dearest and closest friends.

"All right, I'm here," Katara said as she walked in with Zuko.

"How are you feeling?" Sokka asked.

"I've still got a bit of a headache, but I'm mostly okay."

"We were really worried about you, Katara. I hope you gave everyone a hard time for the kidnapping."

"I did my best."

"We heard you went on a mission with them," said Aang.

Katara nodded and related, in brief, the events of the previous day. Sokka had a moment of panic when he realized how much danger his sister had been in, but Zuko had been right when he insisted that Katara could look out for herself. Her story of a trafficking ring operating out of Ba Sing Se was what really troubled him. He'd heard Ba Sing Se was supposed to be some super-special place that the Earth Kingdom was almost obsessively proud of. One of the last few holdouts against the Fire Nation.

Maybe it would be best if they avoided going there unless it was absolutely necessary.

"Well, we're just happy you're safe, now," he told Katara.

"And it's good to see that you're over whatever was wrong with you last night," said Aang. "You were acting really weird."

Katara's expression turned nervous. Zuko also started frantically gesturing for Aang to stop talking.

"Weird? Weird, how?" said Katara.

"Well, you were getting really grabby with Zuko and even said he was your husband," Aang said with an awkward laugh. "Totally crazy, right?"

Katara and Zuko both blushed in clear embarrassment.

"Y-yeah, totally crazy," Katara stammered.

"Right, I mean, you and Zuko?" Aang chuckled, suddenly more confident. "Pfft, like that would ever happen."

"Yeah," Zuko said, though he definitely didn't seem so certain.

Oh, great, the lovesick turtledoves were at it again. If anything, Aang's comments were only drawing more attention to the gross, mushy feelings between Katara and Zuko. Sokka was just thankful he'd already eaten. He doubted he would've been able to deal with it if those two had been making moon eyes at each other in front of his breakfast.

As they walked out to say their goodbyes to the bandits, Sokka noticed that Aang was being particularly clingy towards Katara. He was talking at a rapid pace, telling her in lengthy detail about their search for her, trying to keep her focus on him like his life depended on it.

Well, that was just freaking perfect.

Aang was upset by how Katara had been all over Zuko last night. Granted, she was drunk, so she hadn't known what she was doing and none of that was her fault. Sokka still planned to tease her about it forever, but that was his solemn duty as an older brother.

Could he even call himself Katara's brother if he didn't tease her for being embarrassing while drunk?

He would wait until she'd had a day to recover from it, of course. While Sokka didn't have any personal experience with alcohol, he'd seen more than a few people dealing with the aftereffects of a night of drinking. Sokka valued his life enough to know not to poke and prod at Katara if she was in that sort of condition.

Regardless, Aang's behavior was a bit worrisome. From the way Katara was wincing, it was clear that she wasn't in the mood to have an energetic airbender expositing events at her just then, but she was too kind and obliging to tell Aang to shut up for a few minutes.

Sokka was about to do so, himself, but Zuko beat him to it.

"Aang, could you maybe save the details for later?" he said. "Katara said she has a headache."

"Oh, okay," Aang replied, looking confused at being told to stop. "I guess we can talk later."

Sokka noticed Katara give Zuko a thankful look.

She really did overindulge Aang. To an unhealthy degree, in Sokka's opinion. Even when she knew she shouldn't. Whenever Sokka had tried to bring this up, Katara always brushed him off with excuses that Aang needed to enjoy being a kid for as long as he could because he had such a heavy burden on his shoulders. Even when she knew she should set some boundaries, she just couldn't bring herself to deny Aang anything.

At least Zuko had a good sense for when to tell Aang to stop. Sokka often tried to set some limits, himself, but Aang usually just ignored him. Maybe it was because Zuko had more experience being in a position of authority that Aang seemed more willing to listen to him than to Sokka.

Perhaps he should ask Zuko for some pointers before they returned him to his ship.

"We wanted to wish you safe travels," Master Trinh said as she and the other bandits saw them off at the gate.

Some of the bandits came over to give their own goodbyes to Katara. One girl gave her a hug so tight it seemed like it was squeezing the breath out of her. Sokka thought the girl looked a lot like Aang, weirdly enough. Another girl gave Katara a supply pack.

"I've added some of that medicinal tea," she said. "Remember to let it steep for five minutes before you drink it."

"Thanks, Miaojing," said Katara. She looked around at her new bandit friends. "I hope we can all see each other again soon."

"I have a little parting gift for you as well, Katara," said Master Trinh. She handed her a small pouch. "Always remember, you are a sister of the Taihua Mountain Gang. Even if a lotus root is severed, its threads are still connected."

"Thank you, Master Trinh," Katara said, giving a respectful bow.

With that, they climbed onto Appa and took off into the skies, once more.

"So, what did she give you?" Sokka asked Katara.

Katara opened the pouch and pulled out a small, wooden, circular object.

"It's a lotus tile," Katara said, holding it up for the others to see.

Zuko pulled out his own tile that his uncle had slipped to him back during their escape from the abbey.

Sokka frowned in thought.

This was definitely weird. Maybe it was some sort of Fire Nation secret code or something. After all, Zuko had explained to them that Master Trinh was a former handmaiden of his mother's back in the royal palace. It was definitely suspicious and Sokka would be sure to keep an eye out for any other weird things like that in the future.

For now, they just had to focus on getting over the mountains. They only had a couple days left before the ransom.

He could only hope that they didn't get sidetracked again.

---

Aang was on the edge of his seat as he listened to the storyteller.

Tales of mysterious "air-walkers" who lived hidden away in the highest peaks of the Taihua Mountains. The accounts sounded so much like what he knew that there was little doubt in his mind that they were memories passed down through generations of the time when Air Nomads wandered freely through the world.

Being in these mountains brought on a deep sense of longing for Aang.

The Northern Air Temple wasn't too far away. He'd been there a few times while traveling with Gyatso. It was a quiet place, most of the time, as it was considered the main center of study and ascetic discipline for adult airbenders. The only times children were even allowed to be there were during festivals and the sky bison polo tournaments. It was also very rarely frequented by women and girls, too. Most adult, female airbenders would go to the Western Air Temple for their spiritual and intellectual needs, whereas the Northern Air Temple was more of a male space.

That wasn't an absolute, of course. And there was no rule against men and women traveling to the other temples if they wished. In fact, some women preferred to go to the Northern Air Temple due to the lack of children most of the year, as the Western Air Temple did not impose the same restriction.

Aang understood that some adults did need silence more than others. That was why the Northern Air Temple was built, so its founder and his disciples could escape from worldly distractions and focus on spiritual and intellectual pursuits. The place was the home of the Air Nomad texts, too, thousands upon thousands of scrolls filled with the wisdom of countless ages documented by his people.

With a pang, Aang remembered that that was no longer the case. The Fire Nation had probably burned those scrolls when they attacked the temples.

Aang brushed that thought aside and got up to thank the storyteller.

"It means a lot to hear airbender stories," he said. "It must have been a hundred years ago when your great-grandpa met them."

"What are you prattling about, child?" the man snapped. "Great-grandpappy saw the air-walkers last week."

It was like everything stopped.

Last week?

Airbenders had been spotted last week?

Hope slowly began to bubble up deep in Aang's heart. There was a chance that he wasn't alone in the world. Some of his people might have survived. Of course they did! There was no way the Fire Nation could've gotten them all. They were nomads by nature. It was rare that an airbender would stay in a temple for all of his or her life and never leave. The only way that the Fire Nation could've found them all in the temples is if there had been a festival. Even then, there was a chance that many could escape.

That was it. They were just hiding. That was why no one had seen them in a hundred years. They were hiding.

Aang eagerly rushed back over to his friends, insisting that they take a detour to visit the Northern Air Temple. However, from their expressions, none of them seemed to share his enthusiasm. Katara was the only one who looked like she believed him, but both Sokka and Zuko did not appear to be moved.

"Aang, I hate to break this to you, but there aren't any airbenders at the Northern Air Temple," Zuko said after Aang concluded his plea for the side-trip.

"How do you know?" said Aang.

"The Air Temples were the first places I searched for you. The only people I found in the Northern Air Temple were Earth Kingdom folks who'd moved in about ten years ago."

Aang's hopefulness quickly deflated into disappointment. However, that was soon replaced with an unpleasant feeling of anger.

"So, they just decided to live in one of my people's sacred temples?" he said.

He'd lost his entire culture and now he was losing one of the four temples. What gave those people the right to move in because they felt like it? The Northern Air Temple was supposed to be reserved for people seeking spiritual enlightenment.

Aang tried to push the ugly emotion aside, but it was lingering there. Some random strangers just barged into the Northern Air Temple and took it over. Did they even understand the significance of the place? Did they care for and respect it the way the Air Nomads had?

His hands started to shake as he clenched them into fists at his sides. He noticed that the others were watching him in concern, but he was so mad he didn't care.

It wasn't until Momo hopped up on his shoulder and began to nuzzle against his cheek that Aang calmed down. He gave the lemur a few, grateful scritches behind the ear and let out a shaky breath.

"I need to see it for myself," Aang said.

---

Katara was worried about Aang.

As they drew nearer to the Northern Air Temple, he'd become very quiet. She was sure that the others noticed it, but no one wanted to be the first to bring it up. Getting another disappointment like this must've been hard for him. She wanted to comfort him, but she wasn't sure how she could. In fact, Aang didn't seem interested in having anyone talk to him.

"So, what are the people at the temple like?" Sokka asked Zuko.

"They're nice, I guess," Zuko said with a shrug. "Their leader is an inventor. I don't actually know what his name is and everyone just calls him 'The Mechanist.'"

"Really? What kind of stuff does he invent?"

"As soon as we spot the temple, you'll see."

He was proved right a few moments later as they rounded a mountain peak to see the massive shape of the temple rising out of the clouds. All around it were tiny shapes moving through the air.

"Are you sure they're not airbenders?" said Katara. "They're flying!"

"Gliding, maybe, but not flying," Aang replied, a harshness coloring his tone. "You can tell by the way they move, they're not airbending. Those people have no spirit."

Just then, someone soared right over them, his laughs echoing on the wind as he barely avoided hitting them.

"I don't know, Aang," said Katara. "That kid seemed pretty spirited."

Aang appeared to take that as some sort of challenge and took off on his own glider to chase the kid. A moment later, they were nearly hit by several other people on gliders and had to swerve Appa out of the way.

"We better find some solid ground before it finds us," said Sokka.

They managed to land Appa on the large courtyard and got down to watch as Aang and the kid started doing loop-de-loops.

"Go, Teo!" a kid in the courtyard shouted.

"Show that bald kid how it's done!" another added.

The two of them really seemed to be getting into their little competition. Finally, after they ran through a bunch of tricks, the two landed. The kid Aang had been flying against, Teo, had some of his friends help him remove the glider part of his chair and then wheeled himself over to greet them.

"Hey, you're a real airbender," he said to Aang. "You must be the Avatar! That's amazing! I-I've heard stories about you!"

Aang gave a bashful "Thanks" in response.

"Wow, this glider chair is incredible," Sokka said as he examined the device.

"If you think this is good, wait until you see the other stuff my dad designed," said Teo.

As they turned to head inside the temple, Teo suddenly paused and looked at Zuko.

"Lee? Is that you?"

"Uh…hey," Zuko replied awkwardly.

"Hey, yourself. I never thought you'd come back to visit. How've you been? I see you've grown your hair out. Is your uncle here, too?"

Now it was Zuko's turn to look bashful.

"So, you two know each other?" said Sokka.

"Sure! Lee and his uncle came here, what, two years ago? Pretty sure it was two years. Hey, Lee, are you gonna try the gliders this time?"

Zuko seemed to be getting a little irritated by the barrage of questions. Katara had noticed he got like that when he wasn't sure how to respond to people being sociable with him. He still got annoyed at Aang sometimes for being too talkative.

"Do you think you could show us around, first?" said Katara.

"Sure!" said Teo. "Just wait 'til you see the upgrades we've made, Lee. I think you'll be impressed."

When they stepped inside the temple, however, the only one who was impressed was Sokka. He oohed and aahed at all the machines, staring at them with an almost worshipful admiration. Zuko didn't have any sort of major reaction to it, he just nodded along when Teo explained how they'd changed some device or other to improve its efficiency.

It was Aang who had Katara worried, though.

"This place is unbelievable," he said.

"Yeah, it's great, isn't it?" said Teo.

"No. Just unbelievable."

"Aang used to come here a long time ago," Katara explained. "I think he's a little shocked it's so…different."

"So better," said Sokka.

Katara frowned at him, though he didn't notice. Of course he didn't see what was wrong. Aang was clearly upset at all the changes. As she walked over to Aang, she realized it was only going to get worse. Pipes were running through the faded murals and there was green sludge and foul-smelling smoke coming out of what had once been a fountain. It was no wonder he was upset seeing a sacred site of his people being treated so disrespectfully.

"I'm sure some parts of the temple are still the same," Katara reassured him, though she was doubtful.

Teo led them onward through the place, trying to explain how the machines worked and what they did and all the work his father, the man Zuko referred to as 'The Mechanist,' was doing. While the uses of the machines sounded good, such as pumping in fresh water and providing heat, the effects they were having on the temple were clearly detrimental to the original art and architecture of the site.

They were eventually led out to a bridge that crossed to a round structure nestled on an adjoining peak. Aang began to perk up at seeing it.

"That's the seclusion hall," he said. "It's where monks would go when they needed a quiet space, free of distractions."

"I think I know what you mean," said Teo. "I sometimes go there when I need some peace and quiet. It's amazing how silent everything is."

"Abbot Palden designed it that way."

"Who's that?" said Katara.

"He was the founder of the Northern Air Temple. Legends say that Abbot Palden was once a violent and cruel warlord. He hoarded wealth and killed people for even minor offences. At one point, he was about to ransack a village where a young airbender monk was staying. The monk saw Palden and his army approaching and stepped outside the village and began to plead for the people."

"Can't imagine that went well," said Sokka.

"Palden had him arrested and thrown in his dungeon. But while he was in there, the monk began to perform miracles. When he heard about it, Palden had the monk brought before him. The two of them then got into a discussion about spirituality and Palden began to see the error of his ways. The next time he went off to war, Palden was overcome with grief and remorse for all the death and destruction he'd caused. He then renounced worldliness and became a monk."

"And he built this temple?" said Teo.

"Yeah. He used his wealth to build the temple as a way of thanking the Air Nomads for helping him open his eyes to the truth. He then gave the rest of his money, land, and property to the people he'd hurt. Once he became a monk, he locked himself away in the seclusion hall to meditate. After eighteen years of silent contemplation, he found that he'd become an airbender."

"Wait, so he just…became an airbender?" said Zuko. "How does that even work?"

"Airbending is deeply rooted in spirituality. He probably had the ability to airbend all along, but couldn't use it because he wasn't following airbender principles."

"So, bending can stop working?" said Sokka.

"The monks told me that there have been people whose bending was weak because they weren't connected to the guiding principles of their element. I guess, if it goes on long enough, a person can lose their bending entirely."

"Pity the Fire Lord can't lose his bending," said Teo. "That would be doing everyone a favor. So, what happened to Palden after that?"

"He became a respected spiritual leader among the Air Nomads. It's said he even managed to attain enlightenment. There should be a statue of him inside. Come on, I'll show you."

Aang showed them into the seclusion hall and began making his way over to a statue at the far end of an old man with a long beard who was sitting in a meditation pose.

"It's nice to see at least one part of the temple that isn't ruined," said Aang.

They were only able to see the statue of Abbot Palden for a few seconds, though, before someone shouted "Look out!" and a massive hole was driven through the wall by some large wrecking machine, smashing off the statue's head. As the dust cleared away, a group of men emerged from the other side of the hole, led by an eccentric-looking fellow.

"What the doodle?" the man said. "Don't you know enough to stay away from construction sites? We have to make room for the bathhouse!"

"Do you know what you did?!" Aang shouted. "You just destroyed something sacred! For a stupid bathhouse!"

"Well, people around here are starting to stink."

"This whole place stinks!"

Aang shot a powerful airblast through the hole that knocked the wrecking device off the side of the temple.

Katara took a step back. This was really bad. She hoped that Aang wouldn't take things too far, but she was half-expecting him to go into the Avatar State over this. He'd just poured out a heartfelt story about the history of the temple and its founder whose statue had just been carelessly dashed to pieces. Honestly, Katara couldn't blame Aang for being furious.

"This is a sacred temple!" Aang continued. "You can't treat it this way! I've seen it when the monks were here! I know what it's supposed to be like!"

"The monks? But, you're twelve."

"Dad, he's the Avatar," said Teo. "He used to come here a hundred years ago."

So, this was the Mechanist. After Aang demanded to know why he and his people were there, the man explained how they'd become refugees after a flood. The Mechanist had found the temple and brought everyone there to build a new life, taking inspiration for some of his inventions from what he'd seen in the artworks around the site, trying to improve on what was already there.

"And, after all, isn't that what nature does?" said the Mechanist.

"Nature knows where to stop," said Aang.

"I suppose that's true. Unfortunately, progress has a way of getting away from us. Look at the time!"

That seemed like a bit of a brush-off. Aang was still very obviously upset, but the Mechanist immediately changed the subject. When Sokka started to express his interest in the man's inventions, the two of them left so the man could show off even more of his projects.

"Hey, Aang," said Teo. "I want to show you something."

---

Zuko was starting to feel really bad for Aang.

The first time he'd been there, Zuko had been so focused on his mission that he barely even acknowledged what was going on in the temple. Truthfully, he hadn't actually cared. The Zuko of two years ago had only been interested in hints as to the whereabouts of the Avatar. When the stories of "air-walkers" had been disproven by that visit, it had felt like a punch in the gut. Zuko had had his hopes rise to impossible heights only for them to be dashed on the rocks of bitter disappointment.

The way things stood now, Zuko realized that his disappointment paled in comparison to what Aang must be going through. The kid had already lost everyone and everything he'd ever known. And now he had to witness the destruction of one of the last few links he had to the Air Nomads.

As Zuko looked around the temple, now, a lot of the changes seemed so unnecessary. So casually disrespectful to the people who lived there so long ago. People whose lives had been cruelly cut short…by Zuko's nation and family.

The thought made Zuko feel gross. That it could just as easily have been Zuko, himself, involved in doing such terrible things. That he, by pure association and birth, already carried a stain of guilt for those crimes, even if he hadn't personally committed them.

If his great-grandfather hadn't ordered it, or if the Fire Nation people had had the moral integrity to refuse such orders, the Air Temples would still be full of airbenders happily going about their own business just as Aang remembered. Instead, they were either hollow shells of what they once were, or, in this case, filled with refugees who were content to tear down the remnants of another culture for the sake of their own survival. And that was all the fault of Zuko's people.

At least Teo seemed to have a measure of respect and reverence for the temple and the airbenders. He asked Aang tons of questions about how things were and genuinely appeared to care about what Aang told him. Zuko kind of expected that; Teo was a good kid. Even during Zuko's first visit to the temple, Teo had followed him around and done everything he could to be welcoming.

Zuko had been rude and angry and dismissive that entire time. Frankly, he was amazed Teo had greeted him so warmly on his return.

After showing them to the air temple sanctuary and giving his reassurances to Aang that he understood that Aang wanted the place to remain undisturbed, Teo decided to teach them how to use the gliders. Last time, Zuko had ignored every attempt from Teo to get him to experience flying for himself. So, when Zuko stepped forward and agreed to give it a go, Teo's face lit up.

"Wow, you've really changed," he said. Teo turned to Aang and Katara. "I tried everything to get him on a glider. Even his uncle gave it a chance."

That was a bit embarrassing. He remembered some of the kids had teased him about how his uncle was brave enough to try air-gliding but Zuko – Lee – was being a pig-chicken. He'd gotten furious at those kids and had very nearly even used firebending to scare them and make them shut up.

Definitely not one of his proudest moments.

"The wind will carry you," Teo said as they stood on one of the launching platforms. "It supports something inside you. Something even lighter than air. And that something takes over when you fly."

"I've changed my mind," Katara said nervously. "I think I was born without that something."

"Impossible," Teo laughed. "Everybody has it."

"Spirit," said Aang.

"What?"

"Spirit. That's the something you're talking about."

"Yeah…I suppose it is."

Zuko refused to admit that he was nervous about flying on a glider. He was just uncertain. After all, it was one thing to fly on Appa, safe and secure in the bison's saddle, but quite another thing to jump out into the open sky above jagged mountain peaks with only some wood and paper as a means of support.

"You guys ready?" said Teo.

"No," Katara replied, before immediately jumping off the edge.

Zuko's eyes widened in surprise before he followed after her. The drop made him feel like he'd left his stomach back on the platform, but Zuko barely noticed. Instead, all his attention was on making sure Katara was all right. She screamed as she fell, but when the wind caught her and began to lift her up, the screams turned to laughter.

He let out a sigh of relief as he, too, was raised up beside her on the air current.

"I can't believe I'm flying!" Katara called out.

"Just make sure you keep your mouth closed, so you don't swallow a bug," said Aang, who had flown up between them.

As they continued to circle the temple, Zuko became more comfortable on the glider. He was doing his best not to look down, though. Not because he was nervous, of course. He just knew that it was easier to deal with heights if one avoided looking down. It was better to focus on what one was trying to accomplish rather than pay attention to anything distracting like the sharp rocks below that would rip him to shreds if he suddenly crashed into them.

Just ignore the potential for pain and failure and it won't bother you at all.

Nope. Not at all.

He distantly heard Aang and Katara talking about something, but Zuko's attention was placed firmly on keeping the glider going in the direction he wanted. It was, he would grudgingly admit, kind of…well, fun. It was sort of freeing in a way. Up in the air, only having to deal with staying on a safe course, it was like all those worldly concerns were left behind. It was just him and the glider and the open sky.

"Wait!" Katara's voice cut through. "How do I land this thing?! What if I land over – ack! Blech! Bug! Bug! That was a bug!"

That did bring a slight worry to Zuko's mind. How were they supposed to land? Teo and Aang had neglected to tell them that. The two kids started trying to call instructions out to them, but the wind muffled their voices, so Zuko could only catch every other word. He shifted his weight to steer his glider over to Katara.

"Did you hear what they said?" he called over.

"No!"

Zuko paused to consider what he'd seen and experienced with gliding so far. The gliders needed energy to lift them up. So, to land, they needed to dissipate that energy, but not too fast or they would crash.

"I think I've got it," he said. "Just follow me!"

He steered himself towards the platform, keeping his flight path as straight as possible. He began to tilt the nose of the glider up, to catch the wind and slow his descent. As he approached the platform, Zuko pulled his feet out from the rear support bar and dropped them down as he drew lower. As he got just low enough, he began to run with the glider instead of trying to stop outright. The glider slowed until it lost all remaining lift.

He absolutely, positively was not shaking from the experience.

He did, however, give a jolt when Aang gave him a friendly slap on the back and congratulated him on his first ever gliding trip.

Katara must have been paying close attention to what Zuko had been doing, because she came down shortly after he did and her landing looked a lot smoother than his probably had.

Once they put away the gliders, Aang brought them back to the air temple sanctuary, having decided that he would show Teo what was inside. Zuko already knew more or less what to expect. He'd been to the Southern Air Temple, as well, and he and his uncle had found a way to open the lock. The Avatar statues had been another disappointment, as all he'd wanted was the real Avatar.

Maybe now he would have a chance to actually take a proper look at the Avatars of the past.

When the doors creaked open, however, the sight of painfully familiar red and black shook Zuko to his core. Fire Nation. The entire sanctuary had been turned into a Fire Nation weapons stash. Never had Zuko been so horrified to see his own national emblem. Perhaps that was how it felt for Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe people when they saw it. A sick, twisting sense of dread.

Still, as unsettling as Zuko found it, he couldn't even imagine how distressing it must be for Aang.

This was the holy of holies for the temple. Its innermost center of worship. All of that had been stripped out so that instruments of war and death could be made for the very nation that had eradicated the temple's original inhabitants. This wasn't just a disrespect to the Air Nomads, this was akin to digging up their graves to build a butcher's shop.

"This is a nightmare," said Aang.

"You don't understand!" came the frantic voice of the Mechanist, who had appeared behind them with a confused and increasingly angry Sokka.

"You make weapons for the Fire Nation!"

Zuko also felt sorry for Teo having to find out such a terrible thing about his father. It was obvious how much Teo loved and admired the man, so to realize what was going on must be absolutely heartbreaking for the kid.

"Explain all this!" Teo demanded. "Now!"

What unfolded was an admittedly tragic explanation of how The Mechanist was coerced into providing the Fire Nation with inventions in order to prevent them from leveling the temple and massacring everybody inside it. He was expected to deliver blueprints and prototypes to War Minister Qin every couple of months, and the next deadline was fast approaching.

That sickly sensation returned to Zuko's stomach.

This was all because of the war that the Fire Nation touted as being about spreading civilization, order, progress, and peace. But what was civilized about exploiting vulnerable, frightened people? What was peaceful about destroying a temple and the monks and nuns who once lived there? How was there order or progress when brilliant minds were used to create weapons instead of improving the lives of the needy?

And that was what so many men and women had died for. That was what his cousin Lu Ten had died for. That was what Zuko was expected to sacrifice himself for.

It was madness.

"We can't let this go on," Sokka said after the Mechanist slunk back off to his study.

"What should we do?" said Katara. "The Fire Nation is on the way here right now."

"They're not taking anything else from this temple," said Aang, his voice tinged with a rage that was so unusual for the kid that Zuko was momentarily shaken by it. "If I have to stop it, myself, then I will."

"Aang, don't do anything rash," said Sokka. "We can make a plan."

But Aang was not in the mood to listen. He led them up to the Mechanist's study and flung open the door.

"When are they coming?" he said.

"Soon," the Mechanist replied, throwing a worried look at his time-measuring candles as they let off sparks. "Very soon."

"You can't give them more weapons."

"If I don't give them what they want, they will destroy this place!"

"How can I be proud of you when your inventions are being used for murder?" said Teo.

"I need some time to think."

That was when a bell began to ring.

"You need to leave! Go!"

"We're not leaving!" Teo insisted.

"Then hide! Quickly!"

As they were shooed behind some of the larger projects that had been shoved to the side of the room, the Mechanist opened the trapdoor to admit Minister Qin to his study. That was when Zuko remembered that he wasn't wearing his hat and veil. If he stepped out, the minister would almost certainly recognize him. Zuko didn't really know Minister Qin, personally, but he did know the man was one of the main people on his father's war council. All the minister would need was one quick glance at Zuko to realize who he was.

He went as still as possible, not daring to move a muscle as Aang jumped out to confront the minister.

The threat of treason hung heavy over Zuko's head. His thoughts swirling with how this might play out. If he was spotted, his only possible way out would be to grab Aang around the neck and pretend that he was there to capture him.

The instinct he'd developed over nearly three years hunting the Avatar was urging him forward. It screamed at him to get the Avatar now while he had a chance. Minister Qin was a high-ranking official, he would be able to verify Zuko's capture of the Avatar and then Zuko's banishment would be lifted.

He needed to return home.

The scared, childlike part of him that was crying out for his father's approval was begging him to just grab the Avatar and convince Minister Qin to help him get back to the Fire Nation. It would be so easy. Aang was right there. No one was stopping him. No one would see it coming.

But then Katara took his hand, having sensed he was distressed, and looked at him with such concern that Zuko felt like complete heel.

That little gesture shattered his impulse. What had he even been thinking? He'd actually considered capturing Aang right then, right when the people in the temple needed him, all so he could go back to the Fire Nation and prove himself to his father?

Minister Qin left quickly, likely to go rally his forces for a full assault on the temple.

As Aang announced they needed to prepare and the Mechanist offered his help for the effort, Zuko was caught in an emotional spiral. He saw Teo once more looking upon the Mechanist with that glow of admiration, his faith his own father restored, and it painted a very unhappy picture for Zuko about Fire Lord Ozai.

Teo had never had to beg his father for anything. The Mechanist loved Teo without any conditions. He never treated Teo as weak or shameful, not even with his disability – had Zuko been injured that severely, Ozai would have probably disowned him entirely and maybe thrown him down a flight of stairs to try and finish him off for good measure. Everything the Mechanist did, he did out of love for his son. His changes to the air temple, his construction of the gliders, his constant efforts to improve his people's living conditions. Even building weapons for the Fire Nation had been the only way he knew he could protect his son. And when Teo found out the truth, he had felt safe and confident enough to call his father out on his actions.

Everything the Mechanist was as a father was everything Ozai lacked.

Zuko wasn't paying attention as Aang, Sokka, and the Mechanist discussed their plans for the defense of the temple. Even Katara had become so invested in everything that she didn't notice Zuko slip out of the room.

He just needed to clear his head.

He started to stroll through the long, winding hallways of the temple, not really caring where he was going as long as he was away from everyone and everything.

What was wrong with him?

Why had he been so ready to capture Aang? After what they'd been through in the last few weeks, Zuko had grown to care a lot about Aang. They were friends. And he'd actually been tempted to break that bond all for…what, really? For the slim to nonexistent chance that his father would love him?

Maybe he'd always known, deep down, that his father never would, never could, truly care about him. But that need was still there. The raw, hurting, desperate need to prove that that fear of his was wrong.

Because, despite all of the suffering and all of the grief that he'd been put through, Zuko still loved his father.

He slammed a fist into a nearby wall, feeling utterly pathetic.

A chittering sound drew his attention to a small, furry face peering up at him with wide, green eyes.

"Not now, Momo," Zuko grumbled. "I don't have any food for you."

Momo ignored him and clambered up onto his shoulder. Zuko huffed but gave the lemur a few head scritches.

"I don't know what I'm doing, anymore," he thought aloud.

He still wanted to go home. He had to find that scroll his mother had hidden and get some answers as to why she disappeared. He needed to fix the problems in his country, to stop all the hatred and violence they were inflicting on the world and themselves.

But he couldn't possibly live with himself if that came at the cost of Aang's freedom and wellbeing.

Zuko aimed another punch at the wall, prompting Momo to make an annoyed chirp and jump onto a nearby pillar. The lemur began to swoop from one place to another as he followed Zuko down the hall.

There were more pressing matters on Zuko's mind, though. Not only was he grappling with what he'd nearly done and his crisis over how he could ever possibly get back to the Fire Nation, he also had to deal with the fact that the temple was about to be attacked. Attacked by the Fire Nation. Zuko couldn't simply stand by and do nothing, but those were his people. They were just men and women like the ones in the Forty-First Division, people who loved their homeland and were doing what they'd been taught was the right thing.

How was any of this their fault? How could he raise a hand against them?

But, if he didn't, then what about Teo and the Mechanist and all the people who'd settled in the temple? They would be slaughtered without mercy. Men and women and children, all of them. Non-combatants who hadn't asked to be part of this war but were being targeted for refusing the demands of a rich, powerful asshole who wanted everything his own way.

…And Minister Qin.

The entire situation was about to drive Zuko insane. There was no way he could get around this. He'd either have to fight his own people or stand aside as innocents were killed.

There was absolutely nothing he could do to escape it and it was infuriating.

He saw a fancy little motif on the wall and aimed yet another punch at it.

As he made contact with his target, Zuko heard a faint click. That was when the wall gave way and Zuko found himself tumbling into a dark void.

---

They'd won.

They'd actually won. They'd beaten back an entire army. Sokka was exhausted, but the thrill of victory kept him crowing like an arctic hen. After all, he'd been partly responsible for their success, what with using the fuel tank from the war balloon to ignite the natural gas leak on the mountainside, blasting the Fire Nation attack force to bits.

It was a sobering thought, though. His actions had caused the deaths of a lot of people. After his experiences with regular Fire Nation folks, Sokka was no longer able to just see them as a bunch of masked goons. Yes, they were ready and willing to kill everyone here, but they were also human beings.

And that was actually kind of horrifying.

That it was normal men and women, people not unlike those from his own village, who came fully prepared to murder unarmed civilians. How used to killing did someone have to be to treat this as another day at work?

But Sokka pushed those thoughts to the side and tried to keep his mind on the excitement of the victory party.

"Hey, has anyone seen Lee?" said Teo.

Sokka felt the blood leave his face.

In all the excitement, he'd completely forgotten about Zuko. A quick glance at Katara and Aang told him they had, too. That was not good. Zuko had gone off somewhere right as they were all gearing up to fight his people. There was no telling what Zuko might do. The guy was not the best at impulse control.

For all Sokka knew, Zuko had tried to go down the mountain on his own to do something about the attack. Sokka might have inadvertently killed Zuko!

"Okay, search parties," he said. "We will not stop until we find our angry jerk. We'll search this temple from top to bottom. Every nook and cranny must be investigated. Let's move out! Go! Go! Go!"

High and low, they sought their idiot firebender. From the smallest cupboard to the largest meditation hall. From the tips of rooftops and the bottoms of the cellars. They sought him here, they sought him there, they sought that doofus everywhere.

"Where could he have gone?" Katara said as Sokka slumped to the floor, worn ragged from the search. "He can't have just disappeared."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," said Aang. "Maybe he just took a nap and slept through the whole battle."

Ah, sweet, innocent, naïve optimism.

"We haven't found anything, yet," said Teo as he and the Mechanist joined them. "I don't get it. There are only so many places you can go in this temple. Especially if everyone's out looking for you."

"Have you searched the archive room, yet?" said Aang.

"The what-now?" said the Mechanist.

"You know, the archives. It's where the monks would store all the temple records and scriptures."

"I can't say I've ever seen that place."

"You mean you didn't find it during your, um, remodeling of the temple."

"We found lots of hidden chambers and things," said Teo. "But no archives."

Aang became thoughtful for a moment and then leapt up.

"Follow me."

He led them to a long, empty hallway that was full of storage items and decorated in lots of strange carvings and murals.

"You didn't make any changes down here?" Aang asked.

"We didn't think we should," said the Mechanist. "I figured that these were load-bearing walls and didn't want to risk the whole place collapsing."

A chirping sound caught their attention as Momo swooped down from one of the decorative wall-sculptures and landed on Aang's shoulder. Sokka had rarely seen the little lemur so agitated. He tugged on Aang's sleeve and made high, shrieking sounds as he gestured towards one of the walls.

"I think Z—Lee was here," said Aang. "This is about where the archives would be. I think."

"You think?" said Sokka.

"I only came here a few times. Mostly for the sky bison polo tournaments. This temple was mainly reserved for adults. The archives were meant to be kept hidden, as they had documents that young disciples were not supposed to see."

"Can you get us in?"

"I don't know how the access system works."

"Perhaps I can be of help," said the Mechanist.

He set to work examining the room. As he did, Sokka idly noticed Momo moving to different places which each concealed some part of the device that would open the archives. Almost as if Momo knew where they were. But that was ridiculous, obviously. There was no way that Momo could possibly know that.

"Amazing," the Mechanist said to himself. "The airbenders must have been brilliant inventors. This device is so perfectly hidden that there is almost no way to discover it by accident. Really, the only way you could is if there was some force of higher knowledge that decided you had to."

Momo gave a loud chirrup and landed on top of Aang's head.

"Honestly, if anyone could stumble his way into a secret room that no one could find by accident, it would be Lee," said Sokka.

"Can you open it?" Katara asked, clearly worried. "If he's in there, he's been trapped for hours."

"I believe so," said the Mechanist. "I just need to activate each part of the device in the correct order."

"Is it eight trigrams?" said Aang.

"Pardon?"

"It could be based on the eight trigrams. They're sets of broken and unbroken lines, each one in a set of three, with a total of eight combinations."

"There are three lines on the buttons and triggers. And, yes, each one seems to be different."

"What's all this eight tri-gum stuff?" said Sokka.

"The trigrams are meant to represent how reality is composed of mutually opposing forces that work to reinforce each other. The different signs are Heaven, Earth, Lake, Mountain, Flame, Water, Wind, and Thunder. And each of them can be combined to create one of the sixty-four hexagrams."

"Okay, so how does that help us open this thing?"

Aang became quiet and thoughtful for a moment as he examined the trigger spots.

"I think the pattern is meant to align with the temple's star sign," said Aang.

"What does that mean?" said Sokka.

"It's the constellation that was over the temple when its construction was finished. If I remember right, it should be the lion-turtle. And there's an airbending form that's based on that constellation."

Aang took a stance at the hallway entrance and then began airbending himself around the room. He leapt from place to place, clicking each of the switches as he went. As he did so, he listed off the symbols in order of their opposites before he landed in the center of a stone mosaic on the floor that, on closer inspection, was patterned to look like a lion-turtle.

"…with all things in harmony," Aang said, eyes closed in concentration as he clearly tried to recall some old lesson from the monks. "No gateways are closed. With balance, we ascend to greater heights."

At that, Aang suddenly struck out with his hand to hit a small motif on the wall, triggering the mechanism and causing an entrance to open.

"So that's what that meant," said Aang.

"What did what mean?" said Sokka.

"That last button. It had the forty-sixth hexagram. 'Ascending.'"

"Which characters are those?" said Katara.

"The Earth and Wind trigrams, with Earth above and Wind below. It represents progress, success, and achievement. That's probably why they chose it for the archive."

"Well, let's check it out," said Teo.

With that, they passed into the darkness of the secret chamber.

---

Aang's heart was thumping as they entered.

At first glance, the archive seemed pitch black and empty. Thankfully, the Mechanist had brought along a couple of firefly lanterns to light their way. Aang also managed to find the interior switch to keep the doorway from closing behind them.

They stepped out onto a small platform that was flanked on either side by ramps down into the chamber.

"Lee?!" he called out into the dark abyss. "Lee, are you in here?!"

"Aang!" came Zuko's voice. "Is that you?!"

"Of course it's us!" Sokka shouted back. "Who else would it be, Jerkbender!"

"Stop calling me that, Sokka!"

They made their way down into the archive and found Zuko safe and relatively unscathed.

"Well, you guys sure took your time finding me," Zuko huffed.

"Sorry, but we kind of had a battle to fight," Sokka said dryly. "We were a bit more focused on not dying."

Zuko froze and turned away.

He was covered in a thick layer of dust and looked very disheveled, but he didn't seem to be hurt. Of course, in Aang's experience, Zuko was practically invincible. In all of Aang's encounters with Zuko since they met, the only thing that had ever seriously hurt him was that Yuyan arrow, and he'd bounced back from that extremely fast.

So, really, it was no surprise that he was fine.

"Are you okay?" Katara asked Zuko, resting a hand on his shoulder. "We really were worried about you, you know."

Aang blinked in surprise. Couldn't she see that Zuko was fine? Aang could see it. Still, Katara began to fuss over Zuko, and it made Aang's stomach all twisty inside. He pushed that aside and decided to move everyone's attention to the archives.

Truthfully, it did lighten Aang's heart to see the place.

He'd been so upset at the thought of all this knowledge being lost during the Fire Nation attack one hundred years ago, but here it was. Massive rows of shelves and cases crammed full of scrolls and tomes and artifacts. There was still a remnant of his people in the Northern Air Temple.

"This is amazing," said Teo. "All of this was right underneath us this whole time."

They all started to look around the place. Examining everything on display. The works of thousands of years of Air Nomad history were all stored here. There had been copies sent off to other temples, but the originals were always kept in the Northern Air Temple. Absolutely every single record was in this vault.

"Hey, what's this?" said Katara. She held a lantern up to one of the shelves and read the placard. "Lineage Accounts. What's this for?"

"Oh, that's where they kept the records of births, deaths, and partnerships," Aang explained.

"Partnerships?"

"Yeah. It's…well, it's kind of like marriage, but also not. A spiritual partner is someone you work with to pursue enlightenment. They're your closest friend and the person you want to live and die with. It's not always a romantic thing, but some spiritual partners lived like married people."

"Wait, so, you airbenders don't have marriage?" said Sokka.

"Nope. Marriage is an earthly attachment that distracts people from spiritual matters."

"So, how did the airbenders…you know…?"

"What?"

"How did they keep their population alive?" said Zuko.

"Oh! You mean make babies, right?"

Everyone stared at him. Aang frowned slightly before realizing they were probably confused about how airbenders could be monks and nuns and still have children.

"Every year there was a festival the adults would attend to find 'life-giving partners,'" he said. "They would spend the festival together and make children, then go their separate ways afterwards."

"What?" Katara gasped. "But what about their children?"

"Well, kids normally stay with their birthmothers until about five when they start airbending training."

"So, they just abandoned their children? That's horrible!"

Aang felt a brief twinge of irritation. It wasn't a bad thing. Air Nomads simply preferred to focus on achieving enlightenment, and that was difficult to do when one was too attached to someone or something. And not all Air Nomads gave up their children. Some actually preferred to raise and train them, personally, and it was accepted. Some monks and nuns even agreed to share guardianship of the children they made together, and some nuns had no interest in raising the children at all and gave them over to their fathers until they were ready to start training.

He tried to explain this to Katara.

"But how could any parent give up their children?" Katara said, still sounding outraged. "Parents are supposed to be there for their kids. And the Air Nomads just gave theirs up whenever it suited them."

Aang felt a sudden tightness inside of him and struggled not to let his unpleasant feelings show. Katara simply didn't understand. It wasn't her fault. The Water Tribes had a strong sense of family and kinship, so the Air Nomad ways must seem very strange to her. Not that that made it less hurtful how quick she was to judge his culture.

"I mean, it doesn't really seem like they abandoned them," said Teo. "If they went to the trouble of keeping records, that means that a kid could meet their parents if they wanted to."

"That's hardly the same as growing up with the love and care of a family," said Katara. "They grow up never truly knowing their parents."

"…maybe sometimes that's for the best," said Zuko.

Everyone went very quiet at that. Even Teo and the Mechanist were able to read something through the tension and they didn't know the truth about Zuko's history.

"…so," Sokka said, awkwardly starting to poke around the documents on the shelves. "The Air Nomads kept records of everyone?"

"Yeah," said Aang, his voice shaking a little. "From what I heard, it was important for the Life Festivals. See, because most of us were raised by the elder monks after we turned five, we didn't really know if any of us were related. So, monks and nuns would check the lineage records before choosing partners for the festival."

"Huh, yeah, I can see why they would do that," said Sokka.

At least Sokka was being more open-minded about how the Air Nomads lived. Katara still didn't look happy about it.

"Hey, Aang, have you ever looked up your parents?" Sokka added.

No. He hadn't. He'd never felt the need to. And it wasn't as if doing so other than for the Life Festival was forbidden. Some of his fellow disciples had done it, and only a couple of them actually went to meet their parents. Most, like Aang, were perfectly content to remain in ignorance. Learning about their parents would just be a distraction and might interfere with their efforts to detach themselves from the world. And for Aang, personally, Monk Gyatso had been the only parental figure he ever needed.

Except, now, Aang was curious.

Obviously, no random names on a scroll could compare to Monk Gyatso, but he felt that he should at least know who they were. They were fellow Air Nomads and, Aang was pained to admit, had likely been killed in the Fire Nation attack. He at least owed his life-givers the courtesy of knowing their names, considering he would not exist without them having chosen each other at the Life Festival.

They began to search the records. Scanning through the dates until they found the section for Aang's generation.

"I think I've got it," said Sokka.

He unfurled a dusty bamboo scroll and found Aang's name listed.

"But this is kinda weird," Sokka added. "Aang, why do you have four parents?"

"Huh?"

Sokka passed him the scroll and Aang examined it.

Spiritual partners Jamyang and Lhamo paired with the spiritual partners Anil and Phuntsok. Jamyang became birthmother to Aang and Lhamo birthmother to Rinchen in the autumn of…

And there it was.

Some names on a scroll. There was no telling how many times he might have passed by his birthparents during visits to the other temples, never knowing any of them. He recognized the name 'Rinchen,' though. She was a novice at the Western Air Temple. He'd played airball with her and the other kids a few times. He hadn't known they'd shared parents. That they were siblings.

Aang's gaze flicked over to Sokka and Katara.

If Aang had known he'd had a sister, would they have a relationship like Sokka and Katara? Would they squabble and fight, but still care for and protect each other?

Aang continued to look through the scroll until he saw his mothers' names appear again. They'd met his fathers for another Life Festival several years later and had more children.

"Aang?" said Katara. "Are you okay?"

Aang rolled up the scroll and set it back on the shelf.

"Aang?" Katara tried again.

"I'm fine, Katara," he said. "I just wasn't expecting to find this." He perked up. "But it's neat that I have four parents. I really am special."

Katara did not look convinced, but didn't press the issue.

"Seriously, though, how do you have four parents?" Sokka said, frowning.

"Oh, because my birthmother had a spiritual partner, that means I have two mothers," Aang explained. "And because it doesn't say which of the two men they spent the Life Festival with was my birthfather, that means that I have two fathers."

Aang would've thought that was obvious. Adult airbenders just sort of partnered up with whoever they wanted for the Life Festival. So long as they were not closely related, or potentially related, there were no restrictions.

He didn't know why everyone was staring at him again.

"Hey, how about we look at the natural philosophy section?" Aang suggested. "I think everyone would like that. That's where the monks would've stored their science texts."

That was all the incentive the Mechanist and Teo needed.

They spent a couple of hours inspecting the archives after calling off the search parties and fetching more lanterns. It warmed Aang's heart to see how his people's knowledge was being shared and treated with reverence. He was still saddened by the damage done to the temple, itself, and spent a while staring at the pipes and cables that still littered the structure. That was when the Mchanist and Teo found him.

"Perhaps we have been too careless," the Mechanist said to Aang, joining him in examining everything. "I suppose, in my quest for progress, I never stopped to consider the damage I was doing. I just saw an empty building, but I never thought about what this place meant to the ones who built it."

"Does that mean you'll be more careful with the temple?" said Aang.

"Better than that. Some of these Air Nomad documents have given me a few ideas for how to make the technology I've built less invasive."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Teo chimed in. "And we've even found some artist books that show how the paintings and sculptures of the temple are meant to look. So, once we've made the technical changes, we can start on restoring the artwork. We may need to find some earthbenders to make repairs, though, but it's definitely doable."

After going over some of their new plans with him and getting his feedback, they escorted Aang back out to the main courtyard where Katara, Sokka, and Zuko were waiting with Appa. Aang felt an uncomfortable twinge when he met Katara's eyes, remembering how she'd been so quick to criticize how his people lived.

It was just a misunderstanding, he reminded himself. Aang simply hadn't explained it very well. If the subject came up again, he'd have to choose his words better and then she'd understand. It would be fine.

"It was so great to meet you," Teo said. "And, I promise, we'll get right on those changes."

"Thanks, Teo."

"I mean it. And I'm going to make sure those archives are kept in peak condition. Actually, I'm really looking forward to reading more of those texts."

"You are?"

"Sure. The Air Nomads are amazing! To think, they hid all that knowledge right under our feet this whole time. Maybe, when the war's over, you could come back and tell me more about them."

A few of the other kids who were standing nearby piped up in agreement, saying they would love to know more about the temple and the Air Nomads.

Happiness bubbled up inside of Aang and he found himself struggling not to cry.

There were people in the world who genuinely seemed to care about his culture. Despite their previous carelessness towards the temple, they sincerely loved the place and wanted to know more about it to show proper respect to it and the airbenders who once lived there.

As much as Aang loved his friends, he often felt like they weren't all that interested in his way of life. Not out of maliciousness or anything, they were simply more connected with their own cultures and found Aang's too strange to really grasp. But the people in the Northern Air Temple did want to know more. Despite coming from the Earth Kingdom and having their own ways, they'd become part of the temple in a sense.

And, as Aang thought of the airbenders who'd once lived there and how much they'd been devoted to learning, he couldn't help but feel that they would be pleased the new inhabitants shared that passion.

So, as they set off into the sky once more, Aang watched the Northern Air Temple disappear behind them with a feeling very different from when he'd left the Southern Air Temple.

It was a feeling of hope.

---

Bingya Bay was an empty stretch of water surrounded by towering cliffs that were covered in thick layers of ice that never seemed to melt, no matter the season.

Sokka had chosen it as their rendezvous spot for several very good reasons. For one thing, it was a desolate place where no one would be likely to hang around and spy on them. For another, it would be easy to spot if any other ships had followed Zuko's. And, of course, it also gave them the advantage of being able to retreat to a safe distance where they couldn't be easily pursued if anyone in Zuko's crew got any funny ideas.

Zuko had to admit that Sokka was a lot smarter than he looked.

"Hey!" Sokka shouted.

Maybe Zuko shouldn't have voiced that thought.

"Are you nervous about reuniting with your crew?" said Katara. "I mean, you are with the Avatar and a couple of Water Tribe people. You don't think they might report this?"

"Uncle said they've been keeping quiet about what's going on," said Zuko. "As for how they'll react when they realize we're not enemies anymore…that's a little harder to predict."

"I see them!" Aang exclaimed.

Sure enough, there was a grey shape on the horizon that was drawing nearer and nearer to the bay. Zuko wished he had a spyglass so he could definitively see if it was his ship, but he reassured himself that there was no one else who knew about this meeting. A part of him was still terrified that Zhao would pop up to cause trouble or maybe a giant sea monster would spring up and eat the ship or, spirits forbid, Azula would suddenly come out of nowhere to snatch Aang while they were distracted.

While he knew he was being paranoid, Zuko refused to be optimistic about a situation like this. History had shown that, when he needed things to go right, the universe decided to pull the rug out from under him.

Zuko didn't let himself feel even a little bit relieved until he saw the familiar worn plating of the ancient rust-bucket that passed for a Fire Nation military cruiser. There were no horns or fire-blasts to indicate an attack, even once they were flying down on Appa and well within range. Appa stopped to hover alongside the ship and Zuko recognized the faces of his uncle and crew staring at him.

"Nephew, are you all right?" Uncle said.

"I'm fine, Uncle," he said. He then turned to his crew. "Everyone is to stand down. Anyone who attacks without provocation gets thrown overboard."

He meant it. If any of his crew got the bright idea to try and capture Aang, Katara, and Sokka, he would not hesitate to stop them. Fire Nation or not, he wouldn't let anyone harm his friends.

Friends. The word still felt so weird.

They managed to land Appa on the deck without incident. As they climbed down from Appa's saddle, Zuko offered Katara a hand. When he turned to face his crew, they were all gawking at him like he'd grown a second head.

"What?" he said, frowning.

"Nothing, Your Highness," said Lieutenant Jee. "We're just happy to see you're safe."

That was a surprise. Zuko was still convinced that they'd had a pleasant reprieve from following his orders. As he looked around, though, he realized that the whole crew was out there alongside his uncle. Not only were his soldiers there in full battle gear and poised as if they were prepared to strike if he called on them, but the engineer and the helmsman and the two attendants and even the cook were all lined up and watching everything unfold.

"Well, I believe it is time to fulfill our agreement," said Iroh. "Naturally, you are here to collect your ransom for my nephew's safe return."

"Right," said Sokka. "Yeah. We'll…do that."

"Sokka, you'd better not be thinking of backing out again," Zuko said sharply. "You know I have to be here."

"Fine, sure, whatever. It's not like we'll miss you or anything, Jerkbender."

A small table was set down between the two parties and a tea set was laid out. Of course his uncle had to have tea at a ransom exchange. Uncle Iroh seated himself and motioned for the others to do the same.

"I hope you three don't mind jasmine," said Uncle. "I haven't had much time to restock my other tea blends lately."

"Anything's fine, really," said Aang. "So, how does this whole 'ransom' thing work?"

"Well, naturally, someone as important as my nephew is worth a considerable amount."

"Uncle," Zuko grumbled.

"No, Zuko, if ransom must be paid for your return, then I will not pay one copper less than what is appropriate for someone of your status."

Uncle waved two of the soldiers forward and they brought a large, heavy chest over.

"Now, I was not sure how you wished to accept payment, so I decided to compromise," Uncle said.

He lifted the lid of the chest and Zuko's eyes went wide. Of course there were gold, silver, and copper pieces, but there was both Fire Nation mint and Earth Kingdom. In addition to that were some sort of blue, carved things that Zuko realized must be a type of Water Tribe coin. There was also a substantial number of jewels, blood rubies and ocean sapphires and strands of moon pearls and fire opals. There were even stacks of promissory notes for both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom banks.

How did his uncle have so much money to just throw away like this?

He had no idea his uncle had resources like that at his disposal. And it wasn't as if his uncle didn't know that he was safe. The others would probably have been fine with trading Zuko back to his uncle for the price of their next meal. Aang and Katara were both absolutely dumbfounded by Uncle's generosity. Sokka, though, was practically drooling over how much money he was being offered.

"I certainly hope this is enough," said Uncle. "If not, it is no trouble to get more."

"No, no," Katara said, "this is more than…I mean…wow."

"Very good. Now, as that is settled, let us discuss other matters."

Zuko blinked at him. What other matters were there?

"While I see you two have managed to separate your handcuffs," Uncle continued, addressing Zuko and Sokka, "I assume you wish to get the manacles off, as well."

Zuko blinked at him again and then both he and Sokka looked at the remnants of the handcuffs that were still on their wrists. After everything that had happened, they completely forgot about that. They'd been traipsing around with those things on them for days and hadn't even noticed.

The problem was soon resolved, though, when Private Daiki stepped up with his locksmithing tools and got the manacles off.

"Aw, you guys should've kept those," said Aang. "They were like friendship bracelets."

"I prefer friendship bracelets that don't rub my wrist raw, Aang," said Zuko.

"Okay. If anyone has any twine and beads, I'll get right on that."

Zuko groaned as Aang jumped up and began asking the crew if they had any crafting supplies on the ship, completely oblivious to the bewildered looks from the men who, up until very recently, had been tasked with hunting him down. Katara gave Zuko a comforting pat on the back as he lamented the loss of having even a shred of dignity in front of his crew after this.

That was when Zuko remembered.

"Guys, wait here, I need to get something," he said.

He hurried inside the ship, rushing down the corridor and nearly tripping through the entrance to his quarters. He was reassured to see that everything was exactly how he'd left it. He yanked open the drawer of his desk and pulled out a small box. Opening it, he breathed a sigh of relief that its contents were undisturbed. He then headed back outside to find Aang regaling his crew with one of the stories of what Zuko had been up to with them.

A part of him wanted to snap and tell Aang to be quiet because the entire situation had been one long string of treasonous acts and near-death experiences and he really didn't need the blabbermouths that made up his crew getting sensitive information to spill at the nearest port.

Instead, he huffed and told Aang to hold off on story time for now.

With that, he returned to Katara, who was watching him curiously. He opened the box again and finally made good on his promise to her.

"My mother's necklace," she gasped, a smile lighting up her face.

"I told you I would make sure you got it back," he said.

He took the necklace in hand and helped her fasten it back in place. Zuko was momentarily struck by how right it looked there. He hadn't noticed while they were traveling together, but it really did seem now that something had been missing. Zuko had only ever seen Katara with her mother's necklace on once or twice, and he didn't even register it then. But now, seeing the necklace back where it belonged, Zuko almost couldn't recall what Katara looked like without it. As if it had been part of her the whole time.

"Thank you, Zuko."

"You're welcome," he said shortly, his voice coming out a bit scratchy.

He turned away, only to be met by the sight of his crew staring at him again. Jaws slack and eyes comically wide in disbelief at what they'd just witnessed.

"What are you all looking at?!" Zuko snapped. "Don't you have jobs to do?!"

The crew all began whistling in what they probably thought was an inconspicuous way, mumbling non-conversations, and pretending they hadn't seen anything.

"So, I guess this is it," Aang said, clearly unhappy. "We'll be on our way to the North Pole after this."

That was it.

They were leaving. They'd returned him to his uncle and gotten some money and now they all had to go their separate ways. They were going to fly away out of Zuko's life. They might never come back. There was no telling if he would ever see them again.

"Don't feel you have to hurry off so soon," his uncle said, putting Zuko instantly more at ease. "As it happens, we're having a Music Night, and music is at its best when it is shared with others. And our wonderful cook Gorou is also planning a sumptuous meal tonight in honor of Zuko's safe return."

"That sounds like fun!" said Aang. He turned his pleading eyes to Sokka and Katara. "Can we stay, guys? Just for tonight?"

"I mean, if it's not any trouble," said Katara.

Sokka seemed uneasy, eying up the crew as if he expected them to be plotting an ambush.

"Besides, I think there's another reason to celebrate," Katara added.

"Really?" said Sokka. "What?"

"Don't you know what day it is, Sokka?"

Sokka furrowed his brow and began to rub at his jaw as he thought.

Katara shook her head and turned to Uncle.

"General Iroh, could you tell me what today's date is?"

Uncle did just that and Katara nodded and gave a wry smile to Sokka.

"What?" Sokka insisted. "What's the big deal?!"

"It's your birthday today, you idiot," she told him, adding in a playful poke to his forehead.

"Wait…it is! You're right. I'm sixteen today." Sokka gave Zuko a smirk. "That means we're the same age, now, Zuko. You no longer have seniority."

"Don't get used to it," said Zuko. "I'll be seventeen by late summer."

Right around the same time Sozin's Comet was due. Not that anyone would care about that, as there would almost certainly be more pressing matters by that point.

"Well, I'd say a birthday is a perfect excuse to have a party," said Uncle. "Xiang, Ichiro," he called over to the two men standing a respectful distance away. "We need to arrange some decorations. And tell Gorou…"

Uncle rattled off a few more instructions to the two attendants. They were the only thing approximating servants on board the ship. Zuko had not been permitted any sort of retainers for his mission, so Uncle had hired Xiang and Ichiro as 'extra maintenance staff.' Mostly, they did errand-running, delivered meals, helped Zuko get into his armor, and other odd-jobs. With how calm they seemed about prepping things for a sudden birthday party, Zuko wondered if his uncle had had them do that for the crew members during their travels.

How much had slipped his attention because he'd been so focused on hunting the Avatar?

Within an hour, Zuko hardly recognized the deck of his ship due to all the streamers and paper chains and good fortune lanterns that Xiang and Ichiro had strung up. Gorou had set out a massive spread of food, far more than should have been available to them on military rations.

Again, Zuko had to wonder how his uncle had the money for all this. Sure, they were members of the royal family, but they didn't have much access to the wealth of their positions. When Zuko was banished, he was only permitted standard military funding for provisions, fuel, and general maintenance. Even then, that wasn't always enough and he'd had to learn a lot about budgeting and management in a short space of time, counting to the very last copper and noting down exactly where it went.

At least numbers were easy to understand. Zuko had always been pretty good at mathematics and he'd taken to bookkeeping like a turtle-duck to water. It didn't even matter that it was tedious, repetitive work, it was simple and it kept his mind occupied on the long voyages.

Now it turned out that his uncle had had some sort of secret stash of money somewhere the whole time. Of course, it did make some sense. His uncle often liked to buy stupid trinkets and souvenirs whenever they made port, like that creepy monkey statue he'd bought from those pirates, but there never seemed to be a dent in the ship's finances after those impromptu shopping sessions. His Uncle must have an independent source of income, one that the Fire Lord couldn't cut him off from.

Not that Zuko could blame his uncle for it. Still, it would've been nice to know.

He felt the weight of that lotus tile in his robe and wondered what else his uncle was keeping from him.

That would have to wait, though, as evening soon fell and the party started. Uncle led his little band in their renditions of many old Fire Nation folk songs and some operatic pieces as everyone else watched and listened. After they finished their opening numbers, the food was served. Sokka gave him a questioning look when a large bowl of noodles was given specifically to him.

"Longevity Noodles," Zuko said. "It's a Fire Nation birthday dish. The long noodles are meant to wish you a long life."

Sokka eagerly began to slurp up the dish. And didn't seem to stop as one particular noodle he was inhaling seemed to go on and on and on.

"Guess I know what I'll be eating in a month," said Katara. "I just hope they have noodles in the North Pole."

"Oh, is your birthday coming up, too, Katara?" said Aang.

"Yeah. Late winter."

"Aw, everyone's getting a birthday soon except me. Airbenders only have them in autumn."

"That's a little hard to believe, Aang. You mean to tell me no airbenders are born at other times of the year?"

"Well, not always, I guess. But it's rare. After all, the Life Festival is specifically timed so that airbender children will be born in autumn. We're not all born on the same day, though, so there's another festival for us all to celebrate aging another year together."

Zuko met Katara's gaze and he sensed that she was also remembering the awkward situation at the temple. Learning about Aang's origins and the very different way the Air Nomads saw procreation and family compared to the rest of the world and the fact that airbenders had some sort of free love mating ritual thing that meant almost all their kids were born around the same time was, admittedly, pretty strange to Zuko.

Not that he was going to judge the airbenders for living like that. He was the last person in the world to be in any position to pass judgement on the culture of the Air Nomads. And the reason why was weighing on him more and more.

"Hey, Zuko, you haven't properly introduced us to everyone," said Aang.

"You want to meet my crew?" Zuko said, certain that he'd misheard.

"Of course!"

"You sure that's a good idea, Aang?" said Sokka. "The last time you were on this ship, these guys were trying to capture you."

"Well, yeah, but so was Zuko. But now we're all friends. Just look around us. We're eating and laughing and telling stories and listening to music. It's like it was a hundred years ago."

Back before Zuko's people slaughtered Aang's. Before the Fire Nation burned a path through the Earth Kingdom, decimated the Southern Water Tribe, and forced the Northern Water Tribe into isolationism.

Zuko shoved a whole meat bun into his mouth and pointedly looked anywhere except at Aang.

"Zuko," Uncle spoke up, "if you are uncomfortable introducing your friends to the crew, I would be happy to do so."

Zuko gave a grunt, muffled by his mouthful of food, and nodded.

He watched in silence as Uncle led Aang, Katara, and Sokka around to meet with the wary and suspicious residents of Zuko's ship. Of course his crew was hesitant around the Avatar after all the craziness Aang had caused whenever they'd encountered each other. Some of the men were actually terrified of Aang after what happened in the South Pole when he'd gone into the Avatar State and buried the ship under tons of ice and snow.

And a few weren't just scared of Aang but of Katara, as well. After all, she did freeze all three of the non-bender soldiers during their escape.

Those three men were currently keeping a fair amount of distance from Katara, even when Uncle was doing the introductions. Katara clearly didn't remember what she'd done, as she seemed confused by why Daiki, Hayato, and Lee were visibly shrinking back from her. The firebenders didn't have the same reservations, though. Lieutenant Jee was very composed and…well, not courteous, exactly, but he didn't appear to be particularly bothered by the fact that the Avatar and two Water Tribe kids were guests on the ship. The other three firebenders, Jiro, Isamu, and Lee (yes, there were two Lees in his crew, and Zuko was determined to never let them find out he used the name as his alias), were more relaxed than they had been earlier and were polite enough.

The rest of the crew were more welcoming.

Gorou the cook, Helmsman Huang, Engineer Tai, and Xiang and Ichiro didn't really have the same concerns about Aang, Katara, and Sokka that the soldiers did. Gorou even began to joke around, giving Aang a light poke in the stomach and saying the kid needed to eat more and laughing at some of Sokka's terrible puns.

Of course, what else had Zuko expected? The others had a habit of making friends easily. Zuko, on the other hand, couldn't fathom the thought of such easy interactions with his own crew, not even after spending almost three years with them. But Aang, Katara, and Sokka were just so easy to get along with that even Zuko's crew, who had repeatedly tried to capture them, were quickly won over.

Even the soldiers who'd been nervous around them were soon smiling as they watched Aang perform some airbending tricks.

Soon, everyone was laughing and chatting and having a good time. When Uncle invited Aang, Katara, and Sokka to join in with his little band for their musical performance, they were only too happy to participate.

"I'm not much of a musician, though," said Katara.

"You've got a good singing voice," Sokka pointed out. "Just sing something and we'll follow along with the beat."

Sokka, himself, went for a flute and Aang opted for the drums. Katara thought for a moment and then hummed a few bars from the song she wanted to sing to help them find the right key.

The song was a lively folk tune and, when Katara began to sing, Zuko soon found himself smiling and tapping his foot to the beat.

"Oh, tell me, Brother Nuniq, tell me why you hurry so.

Hush, my friend, hush and listen, and his cheeks were all aglow.

I bear orders from the chieftain to get ready quick and soon,

For the spears must be together by the rising of the moon.

By the rising of the moon! By the rising of the moon! For the spears must be together by the rising of the moon!"

Katara did have a nice voice. Honestly, Zuko wasn't surprised. It was actually more of a shocker that Sokka could play the flute.

"Oh, then tell me, Brother Nuniq, where the gathering is to be.

At the old spot near the glacier, quite well known to you and me.

One more word for signal token, whistle out the marching tune

With your spear upon your shoulder by the rising of the moon.

By the rising of the moon! By the rising of the moon! With your spear upon your shoulder by the rising of the moon!"

Fittingly enough, the moon had appeared through the clouds. The pale light shining down upon the deck and giving Katara a faint glow from how the moonbeams hit her. When she turned her gaze onto Zuko, her eyes had a brilliant sparkle to them much like when the two of them had been sparring together.

"I'm happy to see you and your friends enjoying yourselves so much, Prince Zuko," Uncle told him.

"I guess going to Music Night isn't as bad as I thought it would be," Zuko grudgingly admitted, forcing the smile off his face.

Uncle gave a chuckle.

"You seem to have changed a great deal over the weeks you've been gone."

Zuko stiffened.

"Have I?"

"The Prince Zuko who was last on this ship would hardly have invited the Avatar and his friends to Music Night."

"And you're not…disappointed?"

"Zuko, of course I'm not. Why would I be?"

"Because, with things as they are now, I can't capture Aang. I can't take him to the Fire Nation."

We can't go home, Zuko left unsaid. Uncle smiled and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Zuko, you are following your own path and listening to what your heart is telling you. How could I ever be disappointed in that?"

Before Zuko could respond, Katara finished her song and he gave her, Sokka, and Aang some well-deserved applause.

This was followed by Sokka slapping Zuko on the back and telling him, "Your turn."

"What?"

"You mentioned you're pretty good on the tsungi horn. Well, it's time to show us what you've got."

Zuko's face went warm and he started to fidget as he realized his crew had noticed and were now watching him expectantly.

"I don't feel like it," he said lamely.

"Come on, we've all had a go," Sokka continued. "Or are you not as good at tsungi horn as you said?"

"Shut up, Sokka!"

He was good enough to play in the Caldera City Young Talent Band when he was a kid. And they were extremely picky about who could join. Not even being nobility ensured a membership slot. That was one of the good memories he had from when he was younger. They'd heard he was a good tsungi hornist and invited him to play at the Unification Day celebrations because they were scouting for talent. Zuko must have impressed them because they granted him a membership right after the performance.

But then his father became Fire Lord and ordered Zuko to quit because music was a useless waste of time.

"Sokka, Zuko doesn't have anything to prove," said Katara. "Zuko, ignore him. If you don't want to play, you don't have to."

But Sokka was smirking at him in that smug, victorious way. Of course Zuko had to take up the challenge. He was going to wipe that stupid look off of Sokka's stupid face.

So, head held high, Zuko stomped over and picked up the tsungi horn and began to play his heart out.

---

Iroh smiled to himself as he watched his nephew join in on the fun.

It truly had been far too long since he'd last seen Zuko so happy. The crew could scarcely believe what they were seeing and had asked Iroh multiple times over the course of the evening if Zuko was all right or if this whole situation was some intricate ploy to capture the Avatar. Iroh had to remind them that his nephew having friends was a good thing and that Zuko was far too honorable to use underhanded tricks.

"I guess he wasn't kidding about being good at the tsungi horn," said Sokka, who was presently sitting beside Iroh as they watched Zuko's performance.

"My nephew never jokes about his abilities," said Iroh. "If anything, he is overly modest."

"He shouldn't be. His skills are pretty fire. Ha! Fire, get it?"

Young Sokka would probably get on well with King Bumi. As Iroh recalled from his last communication with his southern Earth Kingdom contacts, Avatar Aang and his friends had dropped by Omashu and caused a bit of trouble. Iroh would have to ask Bumi about it if they had a chance for a White Lotus meeting.

"Thank you for taking care of him," Iroh said. "I don't know what I would have done if anything happened to Zuko."

"Well, he was a bit of a hassle," said Sokka. "But I can't say it was an entirely terrible experience. I'm even man enough to admit I'm going to miss the hothead."

"My nephew is fortunate to have found friends like you."

"I'd say it was more like karma than fortune."

"Perhaps you're right. My nephew chases the Avatar only to become his friend."

"And all it took was breaking into a high-security military base, getting shot in the shoulder with a Yuyan arrow, fighting a volcano, hanging out with Fire Nation deserters and Earth Kingdom bandits, and falling into a lost airbender archive."

"…My nephew has certainly been through a lot on his travels."

"Yeah. Really, this has been the calmest day we've had for a while. And it's interesting to find out that Zuko might be onto something about his virtuoso heritage."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Zuko mentioned some story about how all you Fire Nation royals have a talent for music."

"Ah, I believe you are referring to the tale of Fire Lord Ailan and her musician?" Iroh said with a nod.

"Yeah. I mean, Zuko did say that all of you have a gift for it." Sokka paused for a moment. "Just out of curiosity, if all you Fire Nation royals are musicians, does that mean the Fire Lord is one, too?"

"As a matter of fact, Ozai was quite a talented musician. He favored string instruments mostly. I remember, my brother had a koto that he absolutely treasured more than anything else in the world. It was a gift from our mother for his thirteenth birthday."

"…Sorry, I just…I can't quite picture it. It's hard to imagine someone like Fire Lord Ozai caring about anything after what he did to…"

Sokka trailed off, but his gaze flicked over to Zuko.

"Everyone has something they care about," said Iroh. He then gave a weary sigh. "But Ozai no longer sees the value in caring for anything besides power. In truth, I do feel quite sorry for my brother."

"Kind of hard for me to see how anyone could feel sorry for the Fire Lord. No offense, but the guy's not exactly doing much to earn sympathy."

"Ozai was not always like he is now. It is very rare that a person is born cruel."

It had been their father's doing, in Ozai's case. Iroh never understood it, but there was just something about Ozai that Azulon couldn't stand. Their father had given Ozai so many tasks, impossible expectation after impossible expectation. And no matter how well Ozai did, it was never good enough. It truly came to a head right after their mother died. While Ozai had become a cold and closed-off sort of person in his adulthood, he still had some shreds of humanity in him. Iroh might even dare to say that Ozai had a measure of genuine affection for Ursa, Azula, and Zuko. But when Lady Ilah died, something changed.

Iroh had no idea how the argument started. He was simply drawn to it by the shouting.

Azulon was normally a very controlled man, always shrewd and calculating. He did have a temper, as did most everyone in the royal family, but Iroh had never known his father to truly lose his composure. Whatever had happened, Azulon had been furious with Ozai and actually slapped his son across the face, shouting that Ozai had no respect, no manners, and was a disgraceful excuse for a prince and a son. Ozai had only gotten angrier in response and started yelling back.

That was when Azulon threw a fireball at Ozai's treasured koto and burned it to ashes.

Ozai hadn't even cared about being struck or verbally demeaned. But the look on his face when that koto was destroyed was haunting. Iroh doubted his brother would've cared even half as much if Zuko were killed, but losing that koto broke something in Ozai. He had never been the same after that.

Sometimes, Iroh wondered if there was more that he could've done to protect his brother. It had simply not occurred to him until that incident just how poorly Ozai had been treated by Azulon.

It wasn't until he was older, wiser, and had more time to think back on things that Iroh realized what had truly been going on in their family. There had been countless instances over the years where Iroh had witnessed his father make underhanded criticisms or subtle jabs at Ozai; things that had, to Iroh's shame, passed beneath his notice at the time. What was more, their mother had done a lot to mitigate the tension between Azulon and Ozai, and she had always assured Iroh that she had the matter under control, so Iroh let it be.

Maybe if he'd pried into the situation more, he could have done something.

Iroh was shaken from his melancholic train of thought by the deck erupting with applause for Zuko which Iroh immediately joined in with. His nephew actually smiled as his friends gathered around him to tell him how incredible he was, with Avatar Aang even asking Zuko to give him tsungi horn lessons sometime.

There had been many times that Iroh was afraid for his nephew, terrified that Ozai was leading Zuko down the same path he'd gone and trying to twist him up inside like he'd already done with Azula. For almost three years, the bright, innocent, hopeful spark inside of Zuko had seemed to be snuffed out because of what Ozai had done to him. His nephew had been left with only rage and pain and loneliness, and he was so afraid of being hurt that he was rarely willing to let anyone get close to him. But Zuko was, at his core, a good person who knew the difference between right and wrong, even if he was not always certain of the correct course of action. He'd been hurt deeply, but he was learning to not let his misfortunes determine who he was. And now he had true friends to help him on his journey.

Despite Ozai's best efforts to either force Zuko to change or drive him to his death, Zuko would not break. And in that, he showed how much better a man he was than his father.

Iroh mourned for his brother and the man he could have been, but Ozai's past would never excuse what he'd become.

You did everything you could to extinguish the light from his eyes, Ozai, Iroh thought to himself. But Zuko is far stronger than you will ever know.

---

The morning was misty and grey with dark clouds gathering overhead.

He tried to use that as an excuse for them to stay on his ship one more day.

"Zuko, you know we have to get to the North Pole as soon as possible," said Katara.

"Yeah, Katara and I have to master waterbending," said Aang.

"I'm just concerned for your safety," said Zuko.

"Aw, you're just too proud to admit you're gonna miss us," said Sokka.

"Shut up! Who would ever miss you, Sokka? I'll be glad to be rid of your platypus-bear snoring."

"Who do you think you're fooling? You've been mother-henning us since we got up."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

He was just making sure they had all the food supplies they needed for the trip; sure, they'd picked some stuff up at that market a few days ago, but they wouldn't be able to make rice while flying on Appa. They also needed some extra blankets because that arctic air was freezing and they'd been traveling through the Earth Kingdom for months so they'd need to reacclimate to the lower temperatures. They also barely had anything resembling a medical kit and it would be horribly unfair to put all the responsibility for healing onto Katara. Plus, her healing wouldn't be able to fix things if any of them got pneumonia, so he went through the infirmary for pills and tonics.

His ship didn't have an official doctor, but Ichiro had medical training so one of his odd-job duties was to serve as the medic and Zuko had him add anything else that could help in case the worst should happen.

"I'm looking out for you guys," he said. "Isn't that what friends are supposed to do?"

He crossed his arms with a huff and looked away.

Only to be suddenly smothered by a group hug.

Zuko's eyes blew wide open and he tried to squirm out of their grasp, but they were clinging to him like a pack of barnacle-limpets.

"Come on, Zuko," said Katara. "Being part of the group also means being part of group hugs."

Zuko sighed and resigned himself to his fate, steadfastly ignoring the latest round of incredulous stares from his crew. Some of his crewmen still couldn't fully comprehend that he wasn't trying to capture Aang. Private Jiro had even approached him last night and asked him when they were going to 'spring the trap' and grab Aang after the kid had fallen asleep, curled up in a little ball on Appa's tail.

He'd had to tell him, several times, that there was no trap and that they weren't hunting the Avatar anymore. Zuko still wasn't sure if Jiro had been completely convinced.

"We're going to miss you," said Katara. "But we'll come find you as soon as we can."

His heartbeat sped up at that.

They were coming back for him?

Zuko had been doing everything he could to avoid thinking of what would happen after they left. He'd already abandoned his mission and had no clue what he was going to do with his life now. At best, he could just sail around on his ship, pretending like he was still interested in serving the 'glorious purpose' of the Fire Nation, all while waiting for the war to end. Maybe he would even see Aang, Katara, and Sokka again if he was lucky.

But they were coming back?

"What, you think we're just going to abandon you?" said Katara. "That we're going to take the money your uncle gave us and run?"

"Not a chance, Jerkbender," said Sokka. "You're not getting rid of us that easy."

"The only reason we're not taking you to the North Pole is because it probably wouldn't go over well with the Water Tribe," said Aang.

"But we'll definitely be back. You can count on that. I'm afraid you're stuck with us."

"You mean it?" Zuko said, his voice coming out small.

"Of course," said Katara. "Just take some time for yourself. We can figure everything else out once Aang and I get enough waterbending training. We'll only be able to stay about a month. Two at most."

"Then we need to get Aang to Omashu for his earthbending training," said Sokka. "Just wait until you meet King Bumi. He's one of Aang's old buddies and he'll rock your world. Get it? Rock your world. Because he's an earthbender."

Zuko's head was swimming.

Not only were they coming back, they were planning to include him in the next part of their journey. They wanted him to help them save the world from the Fire Nation and his father.

His thoughts careened to a screeching halt.

Over a decade of instilled loyalty and filial piety was yelling 'traitor' in his head yet again. He was actually considering betraying everything he'd ever known and the nation and people he loved for three kids he'd only known a few weeks. He was going to be an active participant in high treason.

And he was actually tempted by the prospect.

He did love his nation and his people. He wanted them to live in peace and not have to send them to die in a long, pointless conflict that was built on lies. He thought of the Forty-First, and of Trinh and Trang, and Lalita, and Jeong-Jeong. He also remembered the refugees living in the Northern Air Temple. The Earth Kingdom soldiers under the care of Doctor Nuan and Doctor Jianhong. All the people whose lives his nation had disrupted, threatened, and ruined.

And he thought of Aang, Katara, and Sokka most of all.

He thought of everything they had all lost in these hundred years of suffering. What kind of prince was he if he let this all continue? What kind of human being was he if he sat on the sidelines as people died?

But the shadow of his father still loomed large over his shoulder, scowling down at him in disdain. The bitter resentment in those sharp eyes threatening to reduce Zuko to ashes. The harsh sneer on his face as he turned Zuko away time and time again.

"Zuko," Katara said, taking his hand. "We will come back. I promise."

"…okay."

It was strange watching them set off into the skies and not being in Appa's saddle with them.

He stood there on the deck, watching them grow smaller and smaller until they disappeared into the northern sky. He barely noticed when the snow began to fall.

---

Author's Note: The Northern Air Temple episode has always rubbed me the wrong way. Don't get me wrong, I understand what it was doing. The destruction of Air Nomad cultural heritage in the face of technological progress. How the Fire Nation manipulates good people into doing bad things. Setting up future plot points like the airships (and the drill, if you noticed the schematic on the wall in the Mechanist's study).

But, as someone who has spent a large chunk of her life studying history and developing a love for sites of historical and cultural significance, I always get so angry about the casual disregard the Mechanist and his people showed for the temple. I know they needed a place to live and they were trying to improve the conditions in the temple, but the rampant destruction towards a culture that experienced a genocide is…tasteless, to say the least.

I mean, it's not like they even had the excuse of not knowing what the temple was. It would've been pretty obvious right away that it was an Air Nomad site that the Mechanist "stumbled upon" (however it is that one "stumbles upon" something at the top of an almost inaccessible mountain peak). I just wanted more of a resolution.

Also, I wanted to delve a bit more into Air Nomad culture because we see so little of it. Plus, I felt Aang needed to understand his loss a bit more. Aang never really processes his grief. He just slaps a Katara-shaped Band-Aid over it and hopes for the best.

I included aspects of Chinese symbolism and geomancy, specifically bagua, I Ching, and feng shui.

I do think Katara would be the one to take issue with some Air Nomad practices, like separating children and parents. I don't think they forced anyone to do this, but it seems like their focus on detachment would mean most airbenders gave up their children willingly. Katara is from a culture with a strong sense of family and community, so this system would seem incredibly callous and selfish to her. She is being judgmental, but one of Katara's flaws is that she can be a bit self-righteous at times.

Also, Katara and Sokka have to have birthdays at some point. I think they're both winter children. Zuko's a summer child. Aang is autumn. Toph is spring.

Oh, and the song Katara sings is a Water Tribe edit of the Irish ballad "Rising of the Moon." The work, written in the mid-1800s, was about the 1798 Irish rebellion and was intended to inspire people to support the Fenian rebellion of 1867.

Anyway.

Today's recommended C-drama is "The Blood of Youth." The Jianghu is an exciting place where heroes rise and fall, and the new generation must take on the legacies of their elders. After the emperor executes his brother, he banishes his favorite son for daring to speak out against the order. The prince, Xiao Chuhe, then vanishes without a trace.

Sometime later, an aspiring young hero, Lei Wujie, ends up trashing an inn he was trying to save from bandits. The innkeeper, a stingy and cynical young man named "Xiao Se" (who is absolutely, positively not Xiao Chuhe), demands that Lei Wujie pay him back for the damage. Lei Wujie has no money on him, though, but promises to pay him back if Xiao Se goes with him to Xueyue City. They set off on a life-changing adventure in the Jianghu, during which they make many friends and more than a few bitter enemies. All the while, tension is brewing in the capital over the succession, with many different parties all eager to grab at power, and a fear hangs in the air of whether or not Xiao Chuhe will return to press his own claim to the throne.

I absolutely love this drama. I haven't finished it, yet (I'm watching it with my mom, so it's kind of slow-going), but it is really good. Be prepared for a massive cast of characters. Best one is Wuxin, the sassy demon monk who keeps getting nerfed because he's so god-tier powerful he would steamroll everyone if he was at full strength. Xiao Se, who is also kind of a sassy bitch, manages to pull off the ice-faced male lead role and make it not boring. Lei Wujie is a precious cinnamon roll baby firebender. Sikong Qianluo is a boss bitch with a spear who is always looking for people to fight her. Tang Lian is a disaster asexual with a hot nightclub dancer girlfriend who is all over him.

Every character has a story. EVERY CHARACTER.