The mood after dinner isn't much better. Zuko immediately starts to pack, though our belongings are meager since the loss of our ship. I press my hand against the picture I still have stashed in my pocket, the one of Zuko and his mother. The longer I hold onto it, the more I feel like Zuko will get angry.

Within his belongings, I see the orange strip of cloth that I gave him after the ship exploded. My heart skips around in my chest.

"We're going home! After three long years, it's unbelievable," Zuko says. He is clearly over his surprise, but both Iroh and I hold reservations about leaving.

"It is unbelievable. I have never known my brother to regret anything," Iroh mutters, gazing out into the night air.

"Did you listen to Azula? Father's realized how important family is to him! He cares about me!"

"I care about you! And if Ozai wants you back, well, I think it may not be for the reasons you imagined."

"If he cared about you, Zuko, he wouldn't have banished you in the first place. Or recalled you much earlier than three years. I mean, what changed?" I ask. Zuko snaps to look at me, anger in his voice.

"You don't know how my father feels about me. You don't know anything!" His words are to both of us.

"Zuko, I only meant that in our family, things are not always what they seem."

"I think you are exactly what you seem! A lazy, mistrustful, shallow old man who's always been jealous of his brother! And you!" Zuko points at me, anger flaring up. The temperature has jumped about ten degrees in the closeness of the cottage. I fist my hands at my sides, ready to fight.

"You've never known family in your whole life! You're just a lost cause wandering around the globe, looking for a way home!" Zuko walks out of the cottage after his hurtful display of anger. At least there was no fire this time.

I begin to make Iroh and I a pot of tea, to calm our minds and discuss whatever was just said. We sit down at the table, with the shells, and I push them around while Iroh and I talk.

"I don't know your family, Iroh, but I didn't like the look in her eyes when she spoke with us."

"Azula may be young, but she has always been smart, a prodigy. Whatever she has planned for us cannot be good."

"But Zuko cannot go alone. I mean, I wouldn't leave him alone. Not with. . .the toxic mess that is your family."

"No, he should not go alone. Without a support system, Zuko is susceptible to some nasty things. Whatever he decides, to stay or to go, I will follow him. And you?"

"I'll go, but I don't think the person that banished Zuko is going to be a good father. If he truly felt regret, it wouldn't have happened this late. What changed? What made it so that Zuko would be welcomed home?"

"The North Pole happened. The Fire Nation was close to wiping out another civilization, to having the Avatar, that Ozai likely views it as a failure on my part, and a failure on Zuko's. Maybe Ozai realized that family is stronger together, but in a different way. He can play us close to his chest, if we're at the capital."

"Do you think they know? About me?"

Iroh shakes his head, sipping his tea. "We have kept your airbending, or lack thereof, a secret from just about anyone. I don't think many people on our ship knew about you."

"Do you think working on my chakras in the capital will bring suspicion over me?" My anxieties keep growing, the more and more that Iroh and I talk.

"You should only practice behind closed doors, but continue your training with Zuko, on both airbending and firebending techniques. Zhao thought you to be an Air Nomad fanatic, so that's probably the information that Azula and Ozai have about you." After a long silence, with only the night insects to break it, Iroh says, "I think, even in the capital, Zuko will continue his search for the Avatar. I don't think he will feel complete until he has fulfilled that journey."

Neither of us see Zuko before going to bed, so we cannot tell him of our plan to join him. However, I hear him return late into the night. He finishes packing and lays down at his bed, which is adjacent to mine. I sleep fitfully, and I hear Zuko get up around dawn.

Before he leaves the cottage, he moves over to my bed. He is quiet, his footsteps silent in the night. I dare not move, listening for any sound from Zuko, any apology for the hurtful words he said to Iroh and I. Instead, he leans over me, encapsulating me in his warmth, just for a moment, and lays something on the bed in front of me. Something long and made of fabric.

Zuko lightly touches my shoulder and says, "Goodbye, Zia. Thank you."

Once I hear his footsteps fully retreat, I sit up and look at what he left behind. It is the piece of cloth that I used once as a belt and once as a bandage for Zuko. In the dim lighting, I see that he washed the majority of his blood off it, though there are faint stains here and there. I wrap it around my hand longingly, pinning for something that is long gone and something that is unlikely to happen.

Shortly after, Iroh wakes me up. We had packed in companionable silence after our decision, so our bags are ready to go. No breakfast, however. I hope they give us something to eat on the ship.

Iroh and I are running to catch up to Zuko, who has already begun descending the stairs to the docks. There is one lone ship anchored, with the Fire Nation red accents along its hull.

When Zuko is within sight, Iroh shouts, "Wait! Don't leave without us!" We scramble down the stairs to where Zuko has stopped moving. He is smiling.

"Uncle! Zia! You've changed your mind?"

"Family sticks together, right?"

I lightly punch him on the shoulder. "You can't get rid of me that easily. You still have a lot to learn, and a lot to teach me."

"We're finally going home!"

I've never seen Zuko this excited before. I walk next to him down the stairs, thinking about the torn cloth in my bag. Why did he give it back to me? I glance back at Iroh, who has his eyes narrowed and is looking down at Azula's ship.

Good. He's being vigilant for any backstabbing that Azula and, by extension, Ozai may have in store for us.

We make our way down to the ship, ending up on the stone dock that the ship is moored at. There are two lines of soldiers standing at attention as we pass by. I eye them warily, clutching onto my staff with anxiety. Azula stands at the end of the gangway, hands behind her back, flanked by two soldiers.

I feel tension in the air, but I can't quite figure out why.

Azula is the person to break the silence. "Brother, Uncle, companion. Welcome. I'm so glad you decided to come!" All three of us bow down in respect toward Azula, as Iroh had instructed me on the way down. The soldiers behind us close the gap between them.

One of the soldiers that stands at the end of the gangway asks, "Are we ready to depart, Your Highness?" He is not wearing a face shield like the rest of the soldiers, so he must be a captain of sorts.

"Set our course for home, Captain."

With longing in his voice, Zuko says, "Home." I catch a glance of him, and he is deeply sad.

"You heard the princess. Raise the anchors." I follow close behind Iroh as we begin to ascend the gangway. The soldiers behind us are in close formation. "We're taking the prisoners home," the captain says.

Prisoners?! Zuko stops, dumbfounded. Iroh is not completely surprised.

Azula's eyes are big in surprise, as well, but she quickly turns it into anger, glaring down at the captain.

"Your Highness, I-" the captain starts, but is unable to finish, as Iroh swings around and hits the soldiers right behind us with his bag.

Smart thinking.

I shoulder my bag, using my staff to wipe the solider closest to me to the floor. I catch sight of Iroh's fighting. This is the first time I've seen him really in action. The last time, I caught glimpses of his fight at Agna Qel'a. He is using his whole body to fight, sliding back and hitting someone with his side while bending a gush of fire at another.

Zuko grabs the captain's shoulder, tossing him down into the water. I catch a little bit of their conversation, but am otherwise preoccupied with holding the soldiers off. "You lied to me," Zuko yells.

"Like I've never done that before," Azula says. I briefly wonder at the complexities of sibling love, though I doubt Azula holds much love in her heart.

Iroh and I continue to push soldiers into the water, Iroh redirecting the majority of their fire with movements of his hands that I barely catch. I swing my bo, hard, at one of the soldiers near the edge, whacking him in the side and kicking him into the water.

The bo is all about using it as an extension of your body, about using similar hand movements that are used without weapons. It fits nicely with the idea of the circle technique, of using your opponent's momentum to take them down. It is also, mostly, about speed. The bo packs quite a punch, so spinning and swiping at an enemy is advantages.

Iroh is holding a solider in a choke hold, looking back at Zuko and shouting, "Zuko, let's go!" He shoves two more soldiers down into the water. They look like stones sinking in the water, with all their heavy metal armor.

I can hear Zuko fighting up on the ship, but I am mostly occupied by knocking all the soldiers off. Iroh has left me on the dock, disappearing onto the ship. I slowly follow them up, not wanting to be left behind. Azula is talking to Zuko, not out of breath or angry like Zuko.

Suddenly, the air smells foul, like after a storm. The sound of sizzling comes with it. Someone is about to bend lightning. I clamber up the rest of the gangway, having disposed of the last soldiers, though some are struggling their way back onto the dock.

I see Azula, on the incline leading to the back of the ship. There is blue lightning all around her as she gathers the energy necessary to bend lightning. I have never seen this before, but I've seen Iroh redirect it once before.

He does something similar here, running up to Azula and grabbing the hand she is about to direct the lightning with, the hand that is pointed down at Zuko. Iroh's free hand moves down and then away from his body. The lightning shoots into the sky, hitting the cliff near the resort.

Iroh proceeds to pull Azula close to kick her straight to the storm, rocketing her off the boat and into the ocean.

Iroh grabs my hand, where I stand, flabbergasted, at the end of the gangway. We run away, following the coast until the cliffs eventually turn into hills. We follow the river on its way to the sea, wading through the woods until we find a worn footpath. The cherry trees are everywhere, littering the path and the river with their blossoms, all flowing in the direction we are running from.

We come to a stop at the bend in the footpath, with it leading perpendicular and away from the river. Zuko and Iroh collapse to their knees, out of breath. I lean heavily against my bo, trying to catch my breath. Sure, working out with Zuko increases my stamina a little, but I've never been a runner. Why would I, when I could just fly away?

Iroh says, through pants, "I think we're safe here."

From the creases of his robe, Zuko pulls out an ornate dagger. I catch the etching on it in the light. "Never give up without a fight". Sounds perfect for Zuko, who, instead of running, confronted his sister.

Zuko uses the dagger to cut off his top knot. He hands it to Iroh, who follows suit. They pass it down the line to me, and I watch the edge catch the light. How our situation has changed so dramatically. I gather my hair at the base of my neck and pull the dagger across it. It is sharp, and it cuts through easily.

We all drop our hair into the river, watching it drift away, eventually into the sea.

I recognize the symbolic nature of their actions. Azula, Zuko's sister, trying to turn Zuko and Iroh in as "prisoners" means that they are now traitors against the Fire Nation. Their top knots denote their high standing in Fire Nation society. By cutting them off, the two of them are giving up on returning to the Fire Nation.

We are on the run.

We are fugitives.