AN: I promised this yesterday and then fell asleep! Here it is today! Thank you for all the great reviews! And thanks for coming back!


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The mood inside the guardhouse was one of quiet anxiety. With alarm bells clanging over the city and hastily-passed rumors of some kind of attack at the palace, every soldier assigned to the stables was on edge, and those stuck inside had it worst. They were on a strict rotation so that no one spent too long standing in the sun in their armor, but it was frustrating to be cooped up in the guardhouse with something obviously going on out there. They watched at the windows and, when nothing happened out in the yard, they paced.

If there were some scrabbling sounds from the basement, none of them thought anything of it. Rat-vipers got into the grain sometimes, but who could spare time for shooing pests now?

Suddenly, the middle of the floor exploded upward in a shower of wood and dust and a boy dressed in ragged yellow and orange leapt through. He carried a spear across his shoulders and tied to either end was a grain sack dribbling molasses from multiple little holes. No sooner had he popped into sight, grinning, than he started dancing around the room, twirling the spear and flinging ribbons of sticky syrup all over everything.

Guard after guard made a dive for him, but the kid seemed weightless. He slipped right away and kept shouting.

"Ha ha! None of you can catch me! Too slow!"

Shortly, every guard in the room was covered in molasses. The door banged open and the captain surged in, followed by every other soldier from the yard. He pulled up short, his mouth hanging open with a half-spoken demand for an explanation. A moment later, he too was covered in molasses.

"You idiots! One of you grab him!"

But the boy only darted away and finally came to rest on the edge of the card table. The sacks hung light and empty from either end of the spear. With a sheepish grin at the men closing in around him, he tossed the weapon aside.

"Well guys, it's been great, but I gotta run!"

"Block the exits!" the captain shouted. "Don't let him get away!"

But it was too late. The boy flew impossibly through the air and dove head-first through the hole in the floorboards. Guards fell through trying to follow after him and crashed to a rough landing on the stone floor below. The man at the bottom of the heap saw the boy dart up the stairs and out the door into the bright sunlight. With the weight of so many other bodies bearing down on him, though, he could not spare breath to shout.

Up in the courtyard, the few remaining soldiers chased after the boy. He stumbled and swayed, evidently tired, and the men posted outside the barn surged forward to grab him. At the last second, a winged-monkey creature dropped out of the sky and shrieked around their heads. The boy ran past, pushing with one skinny arm off the wide doorframe.

Several grooms made a stand in the aisle between the rows of stalls, wielding pitchforks or shovels or the big rasps they used on rhino claws. They weren't soldiers, but they wouldn't just let some kid steal the Fire Lord's animals. Or, worse, the Princess's racing lizards.

People still half-jokingly whispered that disappointing the Princess was a good way to get banished. In the present moment, though, not one of the grooms doubted it could happen.

The boy pulled up short and seemed for a second as if he'd been thwarted in his mischief. But then he dropped into a bending stance, twirled around, and shot out his arms to either side of the aisle. Thin gusts of air tore along the walls of doors, snapping the simple iron latches open. A dozen doors swung wide, and a dozen high-spirited Komodo rhinos and racing lizards emerged.

The grooms fell to chaos trying to shoo the animals back in, but it was too late. The biggest rhino lumbered toward the exit and the others fell in behind him. The racing lizards scattered, some skittering up the walls toward the loft. A couple of eel hounds loped out. A skittish tigerdillo, a gift that had hardly ever been handled - because what did one even do with a tigerdillo - trotted out of the barn and rolled right through the paddock fence, shattering the planks.

By the time the rhinos were escaping, syrup-splattered guards had poured out of the guard house and were rushing across the courtyard. When the two groups spotted each other, they stopped. The guards became suddenly aware that they were coated in the same molasses that was used to make grain palatable to the ferocious war mounts. The rhinos lifted their horned snouts to the air, sniffing.

The guards let out alarmed cries, turned around, and ran back for the guard house.

Meanwhile, no one really noticed the exhausted boy making his way back to the farthest stalls, leaning on doors as he yanked open more latches. He came at last to the biggest stall, reinforced with steel set into the stone foundation, and hung off the bars, smiling.

"Appa!"

The bison lifted his shaggy head and snuffled at the boy through the slats. Enormous chains rattled from all six of his legs, but his rumbles and groans were happy, excited. The boy reached a slim hand inside and pressed it to the bison's massive forehead, and for a second, both shut their eyes and breathed deep, relieved breaths. They were complete again.

"Okay boy," Aang said as he backed up a few steps. "Let's get you out of there."

He fell into one of the stances Katara had taught him and drew up streams of water from the trough in Appa's cage. One by one he froze the locks and shattered the mechanisms. Then he threw open the door, scattering bits of broken steel. Appa wiggled his toes in the straw and took one step out.

"Halt!"

Aang spun around and found the aisle of the barn blocked off by four guards who had managed to evade most of the molasses. They leveled spears at him and the two in the center stepped forward into firebending stances.

"Waugh!"

Aang dodged into the stall and pulled the door shut behind him, hiding behind the solid lower half. A few licks of flame puffed through the bars above his head. Appa reared back and groaned.

"Okay," Aang said, scrambling up on the bison's head. "Looks like we've gotta find another way out of here, boy!"

Appa turned and, with a mighty flap of his tail, blasted the rear corner out of the roof. Twisted bars stuck out, bared without the wall behind them, but nothing had been done to reinforce the top of the enclosure. A huge section of rafters and crossbeams went flying, leaving a gaping stretch of open sky.

"Nice one, Appa! Yip yip!"

They flew between the jagged bars and beams of the roof and swiftly climbed high over the city, the sun cutting their silhouettes like perfect gems, the fresh wind stroking their cheeks. Free.

.


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"Alright," Bato said as the blast faded to echoes and the rear gate slumped broken on its hinges. "I think we have their attention. Ready the rocks."

"Ready." Miku and Kovu drew back their arms, each clutching a jagged stone the size of a fist. Between them, they had gathered a heap of similarly shaped rocks, and they knelt on the slope behind the cover of an oblong boulder, waiting for the first soldiers to show their faces.

It did not occur to them to joke that they had laid this same trap as boys, only with snowballs. Bato raised his own rock and tried not to let that bother him.

They all knew what was at stake here. This whole thing stank of a trap, but they had to rescue Sokka before they fled the city. He was one of the pack. He was worth the risk of saving.

Even if attacking this prison in broad daylight was crazier than riding wild hippo-seals. Even if the plan to escape was hazy at best, and the rendezvous point was a long march from the capital through hostile territory. Even if Hakoda was so shaken from Katara's betrayal that he might not be able to pull off one of his miraculous victories this time.

Despite everything stacked against them, and despite the coil of fear in his gut, Bato held his rock steady when unseen soldiers - and from the sound of it, maybe a rhino - ripped down the broken gate to clear a path.

Hakoda had been right about one thing, at least. The anterior gate was the ideal target for the blasting jelly; where the outer wall butted against the sheer rock of the canyon, it stair-stepped up to provide additional protection. Unfortunately, the design also made the wall difficult to man and, where the three warriors had taken cover on the slope, they could not be fired upon from the guard tower.

So, when firebenders began trying to march out, Bato and the others were free to pelt them with stones that gouged at faces and battered helmets to the ground. The lead squad faltered and blocked the gateway and, for a moment, the enemy was held at bay.

Then, they ran out of rocks.

"The trail. Quickly."

Kovu and Miku ran ahead, scrambling between outcroppings of crater wall to reach the path they had found zig-zagging up to the cliff. They raced up the first stretch, hugging the stone wall as the ground receded below. About halfway, they paused long enough to shove a heap of boulders down the steep incline. Screams came from below. Miku tried to lean over the edge for a look, but Bato grabbed his shoulder and steered him on.

"Great way to get your face burned off," Kovu scoffed.

"I just wanted to see-"

"Save your breath for the climb," Bato cut in, then followed his own advice.

This was good. With any luck, the pursuit would be slowed enough by the rockfall that they would have a chance to climb all the way out of the crater and disappear into the forest on the mountainside. It would leave Hakoda and the others with a difficult escape on their own, but at least the tower's forces would be divided. Maybe, just maybe, this day would end in victory.

The instant the notion formed in Bato's mind, though, he came around a bend in the path and stopped short, blocking Kovu and Miku with either arm.

Above, not a stone's throw away, the jagged rim of the crater lunged upward. A hole had been chiseled through, leaving a tunnel just tall and wide enough for one man to walk. Through it, Bato could glimpse a door of light from the far end.

But his eye was drawn to the dozen soldiers who stood guard on the path where it flattened and widened at the base of the cliff. They watched him back, none of them appearing surprised.

This was not a standard sentry. There was no shelter, no outpost built to guard this hidden entrance. These men had been assigned this post because they expected someone to come this way today.

Because it was a trap. Bato had known, and still he put his foot in the snare. Now, Kovu and Miku would share his fate because he hadn't listened to his gut.

They were warriors, though, and this fight wasn't over. Bato snapped out his sword and took a step forward. The officer belted out orders to take the leader alive. The firebenders leapt forward in a coordinated strike.

And a monstrous blast of wind whipped over Bato's head and slammed the line of armored men into those behind them, sending the entire detail to a sprawling, groaning heap against the cliff wall. For a heartbeat, he could only stare at them, at the suddenly cleared path. Then, a huge shadow coasted over him and its owner, an enormous six-legged beast, settled in the open space. A skinny kid in ragged yellow robes hopped off the creature's head and alighted before them.

"Hey guys!" He grinned and held up one hand in greeting, though the expression became uncertain as he looked them over. "Um, you are Water Tribe, right? I saw you running from those other soldiers and I thought…"

"Avatar Aang," Bato managed, finally regaining his senses. He had seen this boy once before - from a distance on the beach back at the Air Temple - although the giant flying animal made a stronger impression. Bato sheathed his weapon and removed the Fire Nation helmet he had forgotten he was still wearing. "I am Bato, and these are Kovu and Miku. We're lucky you came along when you did."

He offered a hand and the Avatar shook it in the proper way.

"So was it the old man or the little girl who rescued you?" Miku asked, grinning. Bato turned a dry look on him, but he only shrugged and rubbed the back of his head. "I've got a bet with Nuklok. If I win, he's got to give me his good belt buckle. You know, the abalone shell one with-"

"Apologies, Avatar," Kovu interrupted, slinging an arm around the younger man's shoulders to silence him. "He hit his head."

"That's alright," Aang said with a smile. "And it was Toph who freed me. I'll tell you all about it later. Right now, though, something tells me we need to go help the others."

The clanks of armor announced the pursuing soldiers not far down the path. Bato glanced back. "I don't think we'll have much luck retracing our steps."

"That's okay - Appa can carry us!"

With that, the Avatar leapt up to land light as a sparrow on the giant beast's head. The warriors remained where they stood, wide-eyed. Finally, Kovu raised a shaking hand to point.

"You can't mean for us to actually get on that thing-"

Bato grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him toward the creature. He'd ridden stranger things than flying buffalos - probably - and for less dire reasons than this one. Miku scrambled up into the huge saddle without coaxing, but Bato had to shove Kovu ahead of him.

"This thing flies. You saw that, right? I don't think I'm comfortable with-"

"You can be comfortable later, after we help our brothers and get out of here."

No sooner had Bato hauled himself up after Kovu than the beast surged beneath him and he felt the sickening swell as they lifted up off the ground. The rock of the cliff fell away and the crater shifted below, widening into a vast and horrible chasm. Buildings diminished to children's toys. Men crawled about like ants.

"Okay everybody - hold on!" the Avatar cried, joyful as only a child could be when faced with such a nauseating sight. Kovu wrapped his arms around the rim. Miku laughed.

Bato gripped the saddle with one hand and the back of the younger warrior's belt with the other. Then, the bison dropped into the crater like a hawk diving out from under its flea-mites.

.


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There was no outer wall surrounding Caldera to mark the boundary between the city and the crater cliffs - buildings simply cropped up wherever the land became suitable for construction. On the outskirts downhill from the prison tower, the arid, jagged ground broke suddenly into clusters of fine houses and thickets of greenery. The road from the prison switchbacked down the slope before smoothing out to a gentle curve as it entered back into the city.

Katara did not have time for gentle curves. She set her sights on the palace and ran for it in an all-out sprint, skidding down the rocky slope and occasionally using the dwindling stream of water to help soften her landings. Her lungs seared and a stitch lanced through her side, but she pressed on, harder than before.

She had to get back as quickly as possible. It wouldn't take any time at all for word to spread that she had abandoned her oath, and Katara couldn't let that happen. She had to see this through. She had sacrificed too much now to fail.

Her dad's eyes burned at the back of her mind, hotter than the sun blazing overhead. There was a feeling in her belly like she had swallowed a mouthful of the volcanic rock crunching under her fine palace shoes.

She shut away the sick feeling and fixed her sights on the spires of the palace, and on the shade of a tended copse of spindly trees just ahead. She skidded to a stop among the long, thumb-thick trunks, bracing one hand on a boulder and heaving in one deep breath after another as she rubbed the stitch from her side. The last of her water fell to the ground, vanishing at once among the tufts of bending grass.

The manor house nestled among the trees was the first of several, and the more closely-arranged buildings of the city proper stood clustered at the base of the slope. She was more than halfway there. As soon as she caught her breath-

"You there! Halt and identify yourself!"

Katara turned to find a handful of guards closing in on her from the direction of the house. They wore some noble's livery, one of the wealthier families. She held up her hands, still gasping.

"It's okay! I'm just - passing by."

"She's a slave," one man said, eyes fixed on her collar, on the beads in her braided hair. "Waterbender."

To Katara's bewilderment, they lowered their hands and weapons. Another guard, evidently the captain, fixed a stern look on her and took a step closer. She was an older woman, and though her face was hard, her tone was not unkind.

"Come now. My lord will want you escorted home. Who is your master?"

Katara's breath was finally evening out, and her mind stuttered as she realized, piece by piece, what was going on here. They thought she was one of the healers. They thought she was one of them, and so they thought she was defenseless, little more than a lost girl, a lost pet.

Tinder sparked in her stomach where an ache still lingered from her father's shoulder.

Katara's lip curled. It didn't occur to her now that cooperating would probably mean reaching the palace more quickly and easily. She would not be carried back and forth like a parcel. Fought over and returned to the rightful owner like misplaced property. She wasn't property. The healers weren't property.

"I can get back on my own, thanks."

The captain took another step closer. The guards behind her began fanning out through the slim trees to surround Katara. "Don't resist. You know the law. You know what happens to runaway slaves."

"I'm not running away," Katara snapped, widening her stance but letting the guards move around her. She was ready for this fight, for any fight. "And no. I don't know the law, so why don't you tell me. What happens to runaway slaves?"

"A beating, if you're lucky." The captain sized her up anew, eyes narrowing. "But for a trouble-maker? Probably worse."

Katara could see the guards sliding into her blind spots, but she did not move. There was something hiding behind the captain's stern tone, some knowledge in her eyes. It prickled at Katara's nerves, difficult to identify and swiftly lost in the rising flood of her anger.

"Don't make this harder on yourself than it has to be." The captain raised up one hand, reaching out as if to slip her fingers through the halter on an escaped ostrich-horse. "No harm's been done, now. We can just take you home."

"Home," Katara repeated quietly. She thought of her father's eyes and the cold wind, so far out of reach to her now, and sank deeper into her fighting stance. "I think the word you're looking for is 'cage'."

The captain stopped approaching and withdrew her hand slightly. Her eyes did not flick to the side, but Katara heard the tall grass behind her rustle against heavy boots.

She moved in a rush, yanking at the water in the slender trees surrounding them, dragging the trunks into a whipping frenzy. Guards cried out and went tumbling as branches swatted at their heads and shoulders.

Katara ran. She tore the water out of the trees and the grass and the irrigated soil as she raced down the incline. For an instant she thought the roaring sound in her ears was from the blood that pounded desperately through her, but then the wave surged up beneath her, hardening under her feet. Then she was surfing on ice, shooting down the slope into the city proper.

.


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The deafening grind of rock on rock was actually kind of nice when it drowned out a whole city of chaos. Simple. Toph let the vibration buzz up through her - toes, heels, shins all the way to her head - and swallow all the other signals she was receiving.

She wished the rumble would drown out the sick feeling in her gut when she thought of Azula walking free. Because, for that cold-blooded schemer, walking free meant blackmailing Toph's parents. If they hadn't received the seal yet, they would soon, and she wasn't sure what lengths they would go to to save her. Puny as they were, they had a lot of sway in Gao Ling. It could be bad news for the resistance if they decided to do something stupid.

But there was nothing to do about that right now except get out of the Fire Nation. One stomp at a time.

Toph stopped the rock slab and paused to listen. They were underneath the prison tower now, and the chaos of many boots pounding the rock was beginning to unify into patterns. The Water Tribe warriors walked differently, even when they wore Fire Nation boots. Toph could see them all arranged in the courtyard like tiles on a board.

"Alright, Gramps. I only see Hakoda and three of his guys, with a whole bunch of firebenders between them. I'll take us up right in the middle."

"I am ready."

The calm determination in his voice was no act. The old guy didn't pretend to be fearless and confident before a fight - he just breathed in, and out, and then his heart beat its honest rhythm.

Toph half-smiled, and felt her own heart settle. There were a lot of enemy soldiers up there, but she knew a winning hand when she was dealt it.

She took them up in an explosion of stone and dust that knocked the nearest firebenders on their faces. It also knocked Hakoda down, but Toph wasn't about to be picky. The warriors had had their turn. It was time to tag out.

The soldiers still standing tried to close in, but Toph punched up a defensive wall that launched a half-dozen men screaming through the air. A captain reformed his squad of firebenders on the other side of the courtyard and they shot a synchronized barrage. Toph raised a rock shield to swallow the blasts and then broke it into little chunks to send whistling back. The stones battered armored faces and bellies until the threat was leveled to a groaning heap.

Behind her, Toph sensed Iroh redirect a couple of firebenders and then hasten to aid a warrior who was still protecting a fallen comrade. In the main tower and the turrets around the courtyard, more soldiers were coming. Toph blocked doors with little juts of stone. Archers had taken up position on the walls to fire into the fray. Barely in time, Toph softened the walks under their feet to sand and trapped them waist-deep as they sank. They struggled and kicked, bows forgotten in their panic.

Toph smirked, but it was difficult to be amused by her enemies' kicky legs when so much was going on simultaneously all around her. Soldiers were regaining their feet all over the courtyard. A rhino rider had redirected his mount to break through Toph's defensive wall. A squad was attempting to close Iroh and the two warriors back into the corner.

The performer in Toph wanted to drag this out and really embarrass these guys, but after what had happened on the beach, she knew how quickly the tide could shift in a real fight. They needed to get out of here.

As the thought passed through her head, Toph noticed Hakoda slowly regaining his feet - and the enemy who had recovered more quickly behind him. The firebender pulled back a fist to strike, Hakoda still coughing on hands and knees.

"Chief Hakoda!" Toph turned and tried to launch a counter, but she was too slow - the firebender was already in motion. She could hear the lick of flame sparking into existence.

Then another man slammed into the firebender's knees, sending him sprawling. The blast of bending shot the flagstones with a sizzle. Toph rushed in to help, but the scuffle ended almost immediately, an alarming amount of blood pooling on the ground. The smell, even from feet away, filled her nostrils and buzzed in her head.

"Is-?" She swallowed and tried for a more devil-may-care tone. "If it isn't Old Grumpy! I totally had that guy, just so we're clear."

Kottik grunted and wiped his knife on the firebender's armor padding. He smelled like burnt cloth and flesh. And he was grinding his teeth.

Hakoda's hand fell on Toph's shoulder and, though she couldn't see the look on his face, she could tell from the pounding of his heart and the creak in his voice that he wasn't alright either.

"Toph," he said as if not quite believing it. As if he was disappointed.

"Thank me later, Pops." She pulled away from the paternal touch and turned back toward the fight. "Right now, we need to bust you guys out of here."

With a thunderous crash, Toph's defensive wall sagged and fell and the rhino trampled over the rubble with a triumphant roar. Toph rubbed her palms together and assumed horse stance.

"Alright you scaly overgrown pig-chicken, let's see just how tough you really are."

Abruptly, the rhino cringed and scuttled back through the hole in the wall. Toph frowned and straightened up.

"Hey! That wasn't even good banter!"

Belatedly, she realized that the courtyard had gone quiet and the wind that had picked up wasn't a breeze - it was a direct gust and it smelled way too much like fur, hay, and hot stinky breath. Toph grinned before the bison even settled on the ground.

"Way to go, Twinkle Toes! I knew you could do it!"

He chirped something from around the bison's head, but Toph didn't hear over the scuffle of boots behind her. Kottik had sagged against Hakoda and was trying to right himself. Across the courtyard, Nuklok was carefully lifting Akuma off the ground with Iroh's help.

And all around, soldiers were regaining their feet.

"We have to go now," Hakoda gritted, dragging Kottik toward the bison. "I hope that thing can carry all of us."

"Only one way to find out," Toph said. She stomped and raised her arms and a ramp of stone jutted up on either side of the bison. A couple of men hurried down to help their injured comrades climb.

Toph stayed where she stood and slid one foot across the flagstones. Ten paces away, the ground under a recovering squad of firebenders jerked to one side, dropping them all back down. She opened a deep pit right in the path of a running spearman and he toppled in with a yelp. She shoved back the remains of her defensive wall and knocked a few soldiers into the rhino, which then roared and danced around in a lumbering panic.

"Come on, Toph!" Aang called. "Time to go!"

"Ugh, fine."

With a final punching gesture, Toph brought up a pillar and shot herself into the air. She sailed in an arc, just as she intended, toward the spot where she had heard the others settle into the saddle. Arms came up to catch her when she hit with a grunt. All around her were worn cushions and men who smelled like sweat and blood and char. Some still wore creaking armor. Some were too quiet.

To one side, Aang coaxed the bison into the air. Everyone swayed together as the saddle surged beneath them. Behind, there were blasts of firebending, a crackle of approaching missiles.

"Incoming!"

A heavy body was already standing, shifting through controlled stances despite the tilting saddle. Off to the bison's side, fire slammed into stone. Then they were soaring, climbing into the salty breeze above the crater's edge.

Toph knew this moment should feel like a victory. She was free after weeks of captivity and blindness. She had arguably won every fight, had pretty much done nothing but dominate down there. Everything had gone better than she could have planned. The Avatar was free and the Fire Nation was sure to pay.

And yet her belly was full of gravel. This wasn't like coming out of the pit to a roaring crowd. It was like sneaking out of her room after arguing with her parents.

Maybe it was just the vibe. Everyone around her was cramped and silent. What Toph needed was a little dose of positivity. She made her way to the front of the saddle and draped her arms over the edge to talk to Aang.

"See?" she crowed. "I told you you could do it, and you did!"

She couldn't see his reaction, but she knew he was only half-facing her when he spoke. His smile sounded genuine, though - like he was unexpectedly rediscovering a favorite toy. "Yeah. Yeah, I did! Thanks for believing in me, Toph."

"No thanks necessary, Twinkle Toes. Just let this be a lesson to you. I'm always right."

"Ha ha! Well I'll be sure to never question that again!" He was quiet for a moment, then went on in an undertone. "Toph, you could feel the whole city, right? When you were on the ground."

"Most of it. I get a lot of interference when there are too many people moving around."

"Right. So… could you feel Sokka and Katara?"

Toph hesitated, but only for the space of a breath. "Snoozles is probably already in that Boiling Rock place. And Splatto doesn't want our help."

"Maybe I could talk to her-"

"If you land this stink monster one more time, we might not get a second chance to leave."

The only sound was the wind and Toph became aware of how the gravel in her belly grated with her every breath. She sighed.

"Listen-"

"You're right." The smile was long gone from Aang's voice now. "Appa can hardly carry all these people as it is."

Toph relaxed and patted his stiff shoulder. "Don't worry. She's got this."

Aang didn't reply, and Toph eventually turned around to sit against the rim of the basket. The steady motion of Appa's flight was soothing, and after the exertion of the fight, Toph quickly found herself lulled.

All of that peace snapped away when she caught Aang's voice, probably too low for anyone else to have heard over the wind. His tone was tender, and frightened and sad, but hard under all that.

"I'll come back for you. I promise."

.


.

When the guards finally burst through the ornate doors, they found the throne room in shambles. The floor was littered with dead and unconscious bodies and small fires still gnawed at the pillars and polished wooden floor. Golden moldings had dribbled down the walls to form gleaming puddles. Nothing remained of the wall hangings but shreds and ash.

In the mouth of the great dragon, the Fire Lord's hidden door gaped open. Many of the torches had been extinguished in the tunnel beyond, but firebending flashed and boomed where the shadows deepened. The Prince, though he was out of sight, was clearly already in pursuit of the invaders. The guards hastened to follow his shouts and the blasts of his bending.

However fast they ran, though, it was never quite fast enough. The Prince and his opponents were always out of sight around the next turn.

The guards rounded the final bend to the crash of tumbling rock and found Prince Zuko staring at the jagged wood and heap of rubble that had moments before been a sturdy door. In the flashing light of the one surviving torch, dust furled around his heaving shoulders. His fists were hard and still at his sides.

All at once, he spun to face them, barking orders. "Half of you will stay here to dig out the door. The rest of you, with me."

They parted to make way for him, and the Prince was running once more, leading them back to the last fork, where he diverted and ran through several turns and up a stone stair to one of the guard posts in the city.

He roared orders as he passed through the station, adding soldiers to the force on his heels. They spilled out into the street behind him and began racing back toward the edge of the city where the invaders had fled. The people of the city scurried to clear a path.

But then the din of alarm bells and clamoring citizens was cut by a guttural roar in the sky. Everyone stopped, even the Prince, arrested by the strangeness of it, and raised their faces to look.

A monstrous creature was surging away from the prison tower and over the highest rooftops, plunging through the air and paddling with a tail the size of a wagon bed. A cluster of people clung to its back, not daring to look down. On the monster's head, a skinny boy sat easily, leaning forward into the wind.

Few had the presence of mind to realize at once who the boy was, so many were shocked when Prince Zuko bellowed.

"The Avatar is escaping! Firebenders, shoot him down!"

A barrage of flames arched up into the air, but in the confusion of the moment, many flew wide or too low to reach. Even the Prince, evidently as taken by surprise as the rest of his men, aimed just slightly too far ahead, and the Avatar's bison was able to dodge clear. It climbed slowly over the city, heavily burdened under so many riders, but then it cleared the jagged rim of the crater and swiftly began to dwindle in the fierce blue sky.

Zuko stood among the soldiers and commoners in the street, his heart pounding much harder than the long run could account for. He had not been able to pick out Katara among the passengers, and he felt unaccountably cheated. As if having a final glimpse of her would have changed the way he felt now.

It wouldn't. She was gone. Finally, she was away from here, and Zuko could truly focus on fulfilling his destiny, on being the kind of prince he was supposed to be - instead of the weak, conflicted wreck she made of him.

As a prime example, there was no rational reason why Zuko should spot the Avatar flying out of the Fire Nation's grasp and feel as if a chain had rattled free from his own shoulders.

It was her fault. It had to be.

Zuko shook off the thoughts and rapped out orders, sending more soldiers to deal with the blocked tunnel door from the outside and to demand reports from the prison tower and the royal stables. He also sent a runner down to the Avatar's prison to assess the situation, and another to ensure that the wounded guards in the throne room had been seen by medics.

He had just begun marching back to the palace - because he refused to wait for a palanquin with his heart still hammering - when another cry of alarm rose up behind him. Zuko looked back. His eyes widened and his mouth opened as if to protest the impossible sight.

A flood was thundering up the street, sending people scattering into alleyways before it. Yet the water did not crash over everything indiscriminately. It swooped to avoid two small children who stood frozen in its path. It arched up a wall to rush over a flower vendor's cart rather than smash through.

And at the head of the flood rode a slender woman with piercing blue eyes. Zuko's head rang the moment they locked on him like two hands around his throat. He could not manage to think clearly past the reality that she was not gone, that she had never left. He sucked a sharp breath through his teeth and it unfurled in his chest like wings.

His gut, however, was roiling, molten, rising.

"Protect the Prince!" a guard cried, turning with a handful of other startled soldiers to launch an assault on the rampaging waterbender.

"No! Stop!" Zuko choked and raised his hand as if to grab them, but it was too late. They snapped through their katas and plumes of flame roared down the street.

Katara alighted and, like the final move of a dance, swung the mass of her water up before her into a gushing shield. The sun was bright overhead, though, and the impacts of multiple blasts sent her skidding back, steam rising up off the wet street before her.

"Enough!" Zuko's voice cut the noise, and the firebenders before him stilled, stiff-backed and ready to continue if necessary.

Katara held her stance for a moment, ferocity twisting her face, then let the last of her water drop to the cobbled streets in a splash. She marched forward, glare fixed on Zuko. The firebenders tensed, but Zuko did not notice. He did not see them.

Watching her was too much like staring into the sun. The display at the full moon party had been nothing but a performance: this was the reality of her. She marched forward like a warrior, like she would fight anyone who stood in her way. Most especially him. The sight filled Zuko with fresh heat, a feeling he had nearly forgotten after so long seeing only her bowed head and collared throat. This was the girl he had chased across the Earth Kingdom, the one he had risked his life and his destiny for. Watching her now, after everything, was dazzling.

It was agony.

A few paces short of the firebenders, Katara stopped and snapped her hands up before her, one molded around the other in the Water Tribe way. Her back hardly bent when she bowed.

"Prince Zuko," she proclaimed, loud enough for everyone on the block to hear, "I escaped my kidnappers and returned as quickly as I could. I've come, of my own free will and in the name of my honor and the honor of the Water Tribes, to fulfill my oath of service to you."

She glared at him and Zuko frowned back, unblinking. Those words would only seem humble to outsiders who did not know how virulently she defied him.

Abruptly, Zuko remembered they were not alone. A lot of people were watching this exchange. Minor nobles and dignitaries behind their latticed windows. Soldiers and servants, many of whom would be telling this story within the hour. When he spoke, his voice came out surprisingly level.

"Princess Katara. Because I watched your father carry you from the palace with my own eyes-" Her mouth tipped downward at the loud revelation, but she did not speak. "-I will allow you to return to my service. But if you are reported to be involved in the escape of the Avatar or his allies, you will be treated like any other enemy of the Fire Nation."

At the mention of her friends, her eyes brightened and the slant of her mouth reversed. Perhaps she had not seen the bison fly over, or heard its roar over the noise of her waterbending. Zuko wondered if she would remain pleased with this development instead of finding some fault in it, as had become her habit.

Unlikely. As she stared back at him, the startled pleasure in her eyes faded, hardened to something else.

"Yes, Prince Zuko," she said at last, and that was all. For now.

"Come, then." Zuko watched her step primly between the hulking firebenders before turning away and striding back toward the palace. He did not glance to his side, but he felt her there, two steps behind, the rustle of her clothing itching at the back of his mind.

All through the afternoon of reports and interviews, he felt her there. Despite her silence, Zuko had trouble focusing on the work at hand. She poured the tea that Yotsu brought, and he kept catching glances of her dirty sleeves, and the scent of her sweat. He sank his teeth into the inside of his lip and scowled at the witnesses as they spoke.

The head groom did not look up from the floor the entire time he explained about Azula's racing lizards. The two guards from the Avatar's chamber were ashen-faced and terrified as they described Toph's unbelievable arrival. Toph's maid stammered and blinked rapidly, still shaken even hours after the event.

Zuko received their reports and asked terse questions, and ruthlessly quelled the urge to reassure them that none of it had been their fault. A bead of perspiration tracked down his spine, followed by another and another, but Zuko held his scowl firm as a shield before him. With Katara so near, it was easy to exude unhappiness.

Azula appeared in the audience hall midway through the afternoon. She said nothing, just stood inside the doorway and listened to a captain from the prison tower describe the attack. Zuko tried to pretend she was not there, that she was just another notary transcribing events, but his pulse beat hard in his throat.

The damage to the Fire Lord's bunker had been extensive, but none of the guards seemed able to say why a fight had taken place there. Seeing the hard set of Azula's mouth, the tightness around her eyes as she watched him, Zuko began to form an idea of what it was they had been holding back from him.

After all, someone had anticipated Iroh's plan.

"…final toll is six dead and nine wounded," the captain finished, frowning at the far wall. "Heavy losses, considering we faced a handful of warriors and a few inexperienced benders. Still, your highness, I implore you to have mercy on my soldiers. They fought hard and well. Whatever the savages' purpose for attacking the tower, they did not succeed."

Zuko's eyes snapped back to the captain. "I imagine," he said carefully, "they were looking for their prince."

"I hope they find him," he said with a faint curl of his lip. He blinked as if remembering to whom he spoke. "Forgive my candor, Prince Zuko. I've never lost a soldier at home… and those wolves will never survive an attack on the Boiling Rock."

A cold lump formed in Zuko's gut, a crackling awareness. It was like standing on a frozen pond and knowing that a massive and hungry fish swam beneath him, just a thin sheet of ice away.

Across the audience hall, Azula stared back at him. No pleasure registered on her face, but her stare was cool, and Zuko knew without a doubt that she could sink him. That she would.

Silk rustled behind him as Katara shifted, a slide of layers against one another. Zuko could not guess at her reaction, but the sound was enough to remind him of the captain. Stiffly, he resumed his questioning.

At length, Azula left the room as quietly as she had come. Zuko bent his mind to the task at hand and shut away thoughts of what she was about to do. It was unlikely she would inform on him, at least - that wasn't her style - but it was even less likely that she would just let this go. He had thwarted her plan to capture Iroh and the Southern Water Tribe chieftain. Whatever revenge she meant to take upon him now, it would not be so innocuous as a threatening late night visit.