Oh Brother, Where Art Thou

Finally, Uncle's Pai Sho friend said the patrols around the Water Tribe had calmed down enough to create a window of opportunity for them to leave.

After leaving a note in Yue's room to tell his sister goodbye, Zuko and his uncle slipped away in the cover of darkness to a hidden dock.

A small boat was waiting there. One that was probably just intended for fishing but thankfully looked capable of getting them to the Earth Kingdom, if just barely.

Uncle's Pai Sho friend was the only one to see them off. "Good luck, old friend," Pakku said to Iroh, ignoring Zuko as he had done for most of their stay. "If this… reincarnation nonsense continues as the princess fears it might, then the tides of this war may well be changing. Though for better or worse has yet to be decided."

"At the moment, it seems to be for the better," Uncle Iroh said, giving Zuko a proud if worried look. The relief on his face when Zuko confided in him he no longer desired to capture the Avatar and instead wanted to stop the war had been palpable.

Pakku, on the other hand, just gave a skeptical sniff and sent them on their way with a cryptic proverb that only Uncle seemed to understand. In all honesty, Zuko was shocked the sour old man hadn't turned out to be the reincarnation of Lan Qiren, but he guessed stuffy old masters like that could be found anywhere.

So now it was just him and Uncle on a boat out in the middle of the ocean.

He really needed to start explaining things, didn't he? Not explaining things is part of why his family fell apart last time around. He didn't want that to happen with Uncle.

(Though with some of the things he'd overheard Uncle talking to Pakku about, there were definitely some things he'd not been telling Zuko either.)

Feeling his uncle's pointed stare on him, Zuko sighed and leaned against the side of their boat. "Before we came here, my earliest memory would probably be when Azula set my hair on fire when she was two," he said slowly. "Now, it would be the first time my parents argued badly enough to make me run crying to my older sister. I didn't understand it at the time, but my dad thought his old friend and his wife might be in trouble and he wanted to find them. Unfortunately, he used to have a thing for the friend's wife, and my mom hated her for it and refused to let him leave. I remember clearly her yelling that she was his wife, not Cangse Sanren, and his place was with his family, not with them. Dad left to find them anyway, and she was furious."

Slowly, Zuko began explaining what had happened to him, and who he had once been. And unlike when telling the Avatar and the waterbender girl, this time he didn't hold anything back. He told Uncle everything. Every terrible bloody detail of the life of a man torn apart by war, betrayal, and tragic misunderstandings, but one that still somehow managed to eventually achieve some peace and even reconciliation with those still alive in the end.

Uncle just listened quietly, but Zuko could tell without looking at him he was sad Zuko's family dynamic hadn't been any healthier in his last life than this one, nor had his life been any freer of conflict outside of that.

"So now A-Jie's and my plan is to find Wei Wuxian," Zuko said as he reached the end of the tale. "He's ridiculous and his power is devastating, but he has this constant aggravating compulsion of being a hero, so if anyone can protect the Avatar, especially if my father is Wen Ruohan, it's him."

"Wei Wuxian," Uncle said thoughtfully, speaking for the first time since the start of the story. "To have no envy. That is a good name. And you say he was your brother in that last life?"

"Yes," Zuko said and then grumbled. "But I once again have no way to find him. Typical."

"Now, Zuko, your luck is not that-," Uncle started to assure him before stopping with a grimace.

"Actually my luck is that bad," Zuko said, knowing it was true for both lives. "But that's not what I meant. Since we were kids, Wei Wuxian had a bad habit of going off places I couldn't follow, and those places only grew more dangerous as we got older."

Iroh didn't bother to mention Zuko was still a kid in his eyes. Instead, he said, "Well, I'm sure that is not the case this time. He's not trying to hide, he just needs to be found. You said your personality was similar in this life as the last. What was he like? Perhaps you have already met."

Zuko sighed and ran his hand over his head, feeling the prickle of the new hair slowly coming in. "If there wasn't thoroughly documented proof of all of the Avatar's past lives, I'd swear he was Wei Wuxian. But unless these memories come from before the time of Avatar Wan, that's not possible."

"They are similar?" asked Iroh.

"Very. The only difference I've seen between him and my brother at that age is that Wei Wuxian is more willing to throw a punch," Zuko said in a tone of exasperation with underlying fondness as he pictured his older brother. "Wei Wuxian is… was… is an idiot. Brilliant and inventive, but an idiot. He's loud, shameless, impulsive, and rarely ever drops that stupid smile of his. He's selfless to the point of self-destruction, so stupid that he never tells anyone when he's hurt, and is kinder than most people deserve. Add to that the fact he has the memory of a goldfish, so who knows how much he would even remember if I do meet him? Who do I even know who would be like that?"

But even as he asked the question, another face sprang to mind. It wasn't a one-for-one match, but then Jiang Cheng and Zuko weren't a perfect match either. But it was someone who fit that description closely enough to at least warrant a look if only to scratch them off the list.

"Uncle," Zuko said suddenly, grabbing the boat's steering and startling Iroh. "We're going to the circus."

The Great Yue Escape

As much as he knew they had to go, Sokka didn't want to leave the North Pole.

Chief Arnook steadfastly refused to allow them to take Yue with them when they left for the Earth Kingdom and she would have to remain behind.

Sokka tried to tell himself that she'd be safest there and he would see her again when the war was over. And now that they'd found each other, there was no way she'd accept any other marriage proposals, no matter what her father said about it (though Chief Arnook was warming up to the idea of a marriage alliance with the South).

But darn it, he didn't want to let his (future) wife out of his sight. However long it took to beat the Fire Lord was too long, and he wasn't about to make Aang rush it just so he could see her again, or let Aang do that on his own because that kid was too darn nice and would definitely endanger himself for Sokka's sake if he thought he could get away with it.

So as the Northern Water Tribe fleet set sail for the Earth Kingdom, Sokka could only sit mournfully on the stern of the ship and stare up at Yue's window in the ice palace, hoping to see her one more time.

He never did, not that he was surprised. Yue had run away sobbing when her father refused to let her leave and had locked herself in her room ever since.

Where was Wei Wuxian when you needed him? Who else could shrug off all political ramifications and just punch anyone who made his sister cry. Sokka was tempted to do it himself (it worked so well with Hahn), but decking his future father-in-law was not a good way to start marriage negotiations.

Eventually, they reached the point where they'd go their separate ways.

(No, Sokka's not miffed Aang and Katara got cool presents and he didn't. Disappointed, maybe, but he is not the spoiled brat people thought he was last time around. He's not.)

The three of them climbed aboard Appa. Aang said, "Yip, yip!" and they were off for the Earth Kingdom.

Just as Sokka began pondering if Zuko had found any other reincarnations yet, he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye.

"Guys!" he shouted, scrambling to the other side of the saddle next to Katara. "Our luggage is moving!"

Katara looked at the luggage. "Did Momo get stuck in something?" she asked.

"Uh, no, Momo's over here," said Aang, trading a glance with the lemur atop Appa's head next to him.

"Then what's in our gear?" Sokka asked.

At that moment, a head finally poked out from among the bags. A familiar head with snow-white hair tied up in an intricate but practical style.

"YUE!" everyone on the bison shouted.

Yue smiled sweetly at them. "I didn't want to be left behind," she said as she carefully pulled herself out of the luggage.

The others stared, though Sokka recovered quickest and immediately pulled her into a hug, totally fine with this plan.

Aang, meanwhile, still had questions. "Wait, were you in there this whole time?" he asked. They'd been at sea for a couple of days before Appa broke off from the fleet. That was a long time to be stuffed in a sack.

Yue laughed and shook her head. Gesturing down at her clothes, which were clearly a men's cut, she explained. "Only since this morning. I disguised myself as a boy and was hidden among the crew the rest of the time."

"But your hair," Katara said, pointing out Yue's most distinctive trait.

"I wore a helmet," said Yue.

"Didn't anyone think it's weird you never took it off?" asked Aang.

Yue's smile dimmed. "Yes, but they just figured I was paranoid. I admit I was a bit nervous about my ruse, but that just helped them form that opinion. After the siege, it's not surprising some people would be on edge for another attack at any time. I just didn't correct anyone's assumptions."

Sokka just grinned and hugged Yue tighter. "My wife is so smart," he said slightly dopily.

"She's not your wife," Katara pointed out, more as a joke than anything else.

"Yet," was all Sokka and Yue said in reply.

A/N Another double one, but that's just because both segments were just so short.

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