Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Six

Sokka finished setting up camp, amazed at how easy everything went when you had several tribes worth of Earthbenders,; just 'Huah!', 'Grah!', and 'Hyah!' and you had a house!

Like, don't get him wrong, he didn't mind sleeping on his bedroll, every night warmer than a midsummer's day back home, and with Appa predators weren't a concern, because ten-ton flying bison, but having a place you could hole up in was nice.

Well, except when you were trapped there, like they were with Aang's friend Bumi, but they'd gotten out of that, even if the Water Tribe guy didn't really think it was that funny, but they'd managed to work things out without a problem.

As opposed to their last adventure, which was…

Something.

Sokka wasn't a stranger to violence, no man of the tribe was, it was just he'd hunted penguin fish, turtle seals, and, a couple times, tiger seals, which had been very tense trips, but using a club, or even a spear, was different than using claws.

And those had been animals, not other people.

But, but this was war, and he knew his dad, Bato, and the others killed people, Fire Nation people, which, having met a few now, part of him wanted to just shift them over to the animal category. Except, except he remembered talking to Dad, and how about other people were just that, people, and, even if they were animals, well, you had to respect what you hunted, or else you'd be the one that was hunted in return.

And so he'd fought, trying to shut down the enemy so they'd stop fighting and let everyone go, but seeing the two Spirits they'd met before fight?

There was a reason you didn't want to be in a Spirit Tale.

Though the way the warden had dismissed the two of them, telling them just to leave or else have a Sage do something terrible to them…

The Fire Nation was wrong, in a way that was hard to put into words.

And then there was the prison.

Because, yeah, how do you keep guys who can move rocks in one place, when you couldn't just ship them off to the poles, because the Water Tribes were there, and we'd just free 'em? It made sense, even if seeing everyone there, dispirited and broken, made Sokka wonder if that'd happened to Dad.

It'd been a couple years since they'd heard from him, to make sure he didn't lead the Fire Nation back to them, which Aang and Katara had done anyways, but, with Angry McFirepants chasing after them, they'd led the guy away from their home.

Hopefully.

But that meant, for all Sokka knew, Dad and the others got caught, and were in a Fire Nation prison even now, and he just had to trust that they were both good enough, and that they had enough of the Spirits' blessings, their cause just, that they'd make it, because you needed both to survive.

Though he was pretty sure the Spirits that helped his father weren't as… hands on, as Denki and Mina, who'd been… brutal, but effective.

And the Water Tribesman hadn't missed the fact that those two weren't the only ones killing the Fire Nation soldiers, it was, just, well, blunt blows weren't as messy.

Not that he could blame them. Seeing that wave of fire coming for him, he'd been ready to grab Katara and run, but the Earthbenders had blocked it. He'd known his sister was good at getting people to do what she wanted, but even he'd been worried this was too much. However, the others had fought, though, Sokka could admit it, the older ones only did so because Haru stepped forward, not because of what his sister said, which, he could get.

They weren't Tribe to the Earthbenders, after all, but Haru was, and that'd probably made all the difference.

Then again, even if it hadn't, Denki and Mina alone might've been enough.

And boy howdy was he glad that not only had they not pissed the two of them off that first time they'd met! But also that the pair of Spirits were on their side. Seeing Denki, who, with the lightning, had to be some kind of Storm Spirit, just point and…

Thunder clapped.

And the Warden's head was just… gone.

Like, how did you even fight that?

Well, Sokka thought, he pointed, and there were… bits splattered back, so it had to be some kind of projectile. When thunder boomed loud enough, it could shake stuff, but it sounded in every direction, so maybe the Spirit was concentrating it, which didn't shake things, but…. Yeah.

And Denki's arm had split apart, making a kind of launcher, sort of, though he didn't see what'd been thrown, or by what, but spirit-thunder-stuff might be weird, so…

Sokka just needed to not be hit.

Which was easier said than done.

Hide? Hide, he decided, getting to cover probably super important, like dodging thrown spears, except with how strong it was, like how Dad said some Earthbenders could throw rocks, like how Haru and his dad had broken down the gate, you not only needed to get behind cover, but you had to make sure the Spirit didn't know what part of cover you were behind.

From there… distract, circle around, get close…

And get killed anyways, because the Spirit had claws worse than a polar leopard's, and he could also just touch you and…

Instant Lightning Strike.

… Okay, don't pick a fight with the Storm Spirit, Sokka.

Which… duh.

He was really glad he pulled Katara back from giving offense, though he had a feeling she didn't really understand what he tried to tell her later, and he was pretty sure this wouldn't help either, because on the trip back to the mainland, she'd been… perfectly fine.

Sokka was a bit spooked, and Aang was, well, he'd get to that, but Katara had taken that as a victory, when it'd been a really really dumb plan and he'd know, he was the master of really really dumb plans! But it'd worked out, so that was fine with her, which was just so Katara it hurt, even as it made him smile a little, and even the people that'd gotten stabbed and burned by the Fire Nation had been healed by Mina, though…

For the life of him, Sokka couldn't remember a story about a Spirit healing someone.

Curing disease, yeah, changing their bodies in some way, like the Girl who Took To The Skies, a friendly spirit giving her the wings of an Owl Wolf to escape the ice flow she'd been trapped on, while an evil spirit, pretending to be a Kadzait, had tried to get her to give up all hope of rescue, sure, but just… healing?

That was something that Waterbenders did, at least according to the stories, Katara having never managed to figure it out, though, Sokka guessed, since Waterbending was a gift from the Spirits, it made sense that some Spirits could do it too, sorta?

What was he worrying about? Right. Katara.

She'd taken her first real battle well, too well. It wasn't the same, but Sokka remembered the first hunt Dad had taken him on, where it was up to Sokka to, if not take down his prey, then at least survive, and he'd been a mess afterwards.

Dad had given him time to collect himself, and told Sokka that feeling that way wasn't wrong, it was just, if you had to be like that, you did it in private, so the others didn't think you were scared, even if you were, because what you showed to the world would get a response, just like, hunting that ice crawler, Sokka had needed not to seem scared until he was ready for it to strike, and could take it out mid-lunge.

And that thing had been a clicky, crawler, creepy monster, not a person.

Then again, Sokka had a feeling his sister didn't see the Fire Nation soldiers as people, but, with what the Fire Nation leader said, for the other guards to back a chief like that…

As Dad would say, it was a Good and Needed killing.

But while he got that, Aang… didn't.

So, sneaking away from the Earthbender camp, and finding where the yellow-and-orange clad kid was sitting, up in a tree close enough to the others to hear what was going on, but out of sight, the warrior didn't say anything until he was at the bottom of it, before commenting, "Today wasn't a good day, was it?"

"Waaah!" Aang yelled, falling out of the tree, not having noticed Sokka approach, and, while he could be dang quiet when he needed to be, he hadn't tried to be, the monk too in his own head to notice, which Sokka got, he really really got.

Landing with a twist and a bit of Airbending, The Avatar argued, "What makes you say that, Sokka? We saved all those people!"

"Yeah, we did," the Water Tribesman agreed, nodding. "But you're not happy about it. Or… happy about how we did it."

Aang frowned, opened his mouth, and hesitated, before he answered, "I did what I could to help."

"How they did it, then," Sokka amended, watching the kid.

"I…" the Airbender started to answer, frowning, stating, "I'm supposed to be the bridge between spirits. And… why did they have to kill them, Sokka? Spirits are supposed to be good!"

Caught off guard, as there was just… so much wrong with that statement, the warrior started with the most obvious, trying to clarify, "So Spirits aren't supposed to kill?"

"No!" Aang replied, which, what? "But they did! They did a lot. And they did it like it was, was nothing!"

Working his way through that, Sokka held up a hand. "Uh, dude? Spirits kill. There's lots of stories about it. Like, a lot of stories about it. Heck, half the time, when they don't kill you, that's worse!"

"What could be worse than killing?" the kid questioned, and… what did the Air Nomads teach him?

Thinking of the stories of what happened to those who tried to cheat the Spirits, cursed to freeze and suffer biting cold until the end of time, or turned into a Dolphin Piranha and forced to hunt down your own family, or, well, you didn't cheat Spirits, but those tales had given him nightmares, and that wasn't what Aang needed right now.

"Spirits are, like, part of nature, right?" the warrior questioned instead.

"Yeah, which is why we need to live in harmony with them!" the monk nodded.

Still not getting it, the chieftain's son slowly informed The Avatar, "Uh, Aang? Nature kills. Nature kills a lot. Heck, Tiger Seals only eat meat so they kill every time they're hungry. So Spirits killing is just… a thing. And, really, I'm glad those two were on our side."

"I would've stopped them if they'd tried to hurt you, Sokka, and, yeah, I get that some animals eat other animals, but Denki wasn't eating them, he was killing them just to kill them!" the boy argued.

"Wait," the Water Tribesman replied, holding up a hand, "would it have been better if he'd eaten the Fire Nation soldiers?"

Frowning, Aang shrugged, "Yeah? But there was way more than he could possibly eat, so that's not why he was doing it."

Feeling a headache building, Sokka reminded The Avatar, "Aang, he killed them because they were trying to kill us."

"But they didn't need to!" the monk shot back. "I was making sure they weren't hurting anyone, without killing them, and neither were you!"

The warrior darkened a bit in shame, as, really, he should've been going for the kill. Denki's save, and his advice, had been… well, Wisdom of the Spirits, and something Dad had said, in as many words, 'cause Dad was wise too, needing to be, to be a Chieftain, just like Sokka wanted to be one day.

But hopefully not for a while.

Because he wasn't ready for that sort of thing.

Today had proven that.

And, seeing Aang waiting for his answer, Sokka admitted, "I, yeah, I wasn't. But, it's a lot harder to take something down without killing it, than it is to end it."

"So Denki and Mina did what was easy, instead of what was right," the monk declared, with a nod, which, wasn't fair.

"They weren't the only ones fighting the bad guys, Aang," the Water Tribesman pointed out. "I was doing my best, but it wasn't enough, and, and neither were you." At the boy's hurt expression, Sokka felt his own heart twist a little, but, blaming a couple people for what the Tribe did was not good chieftain-ing. "Katara wasn't able to do anything until Mina bent some water to her, and then there was the coal-spirit thing that was protecting her, which, I think was Denki's pet?"

Seeing it guard her, once he'd realized what it was doing, had helped him in the fight, letting him focus on the Fire Nation soldiers trying to kill them all, and he hadn't made the connection until Denki had sent it back home. "It wasn't until the Firebenders tried to kill us, and the Earthbenders protected us, that they started killing the Firebenders. One of the ones Denki took out was someone I thought I'd stopped, but hadn't," Sokka admitted, baring his shame to try and help Aang understand how wrong he was.

But, instead, the monk asked, "So, if we were better, they wouldn't've needed to?"

"I, I mean, yes?" the warrior replied, not sure where his friend was going with this.

Nodding, Aang declared, "So we just need to get better! You said you were learning a lot from the Kyoshi warriors, even if they did make you wear a dress," the boy teased. "So you just need to get good enough to take your enemies out without, you know, taking them out!"

The Water Tribesman blinked, as, against a single enemy, or a small patrol, sure, he might be able to manage them, but there'd been dozens of them, including enemy Benders, and to do that… "You think I could?" the young man questioned, unsure.

"Of course you can, Sokka! I believe in you!" The Avatar grinned. His expression faded a bit, as he continued, "And I'll train too! So that, so that we don't have to let anything like that happen again!"

"I, I'll need to train with more people," the warrior warned. "I've, I've tried to learn on my own, but there's only so much you can get swinging a club at a snowman, even if it's got angry eyebrows. Man, I wish we could've spent more time with Suki," he stated regretfully, not whining, because he was a warrior, and warriors didn't whine. "I would've learned a lot more."

With a teasing smile, Aang questioned, "Even if they made you wear a dress?"

It was a battle garment, and The Avatar was making the same mistake that Sokka had when he'd first met the Kyoshi Warriors, but, but the monk was clearly feeling a lot better, so the older boy just agreed, "Even if they made me wear a dress. But I need to find more people to learn from, if I'm gonna get that good."

"Well, lucky for you, you're travelling with The Avatar!" Aang grinned. "We're gonna be going all over, and I'm sure you'll find a lot of people to learn from!"

"Not why I'm doing this, but I'm not gonna say no to it," warrior replied, with a matching smile. "So, wanna go back to the others? I asked to make sure which dishes didn't have any meat in them, so you can have 'em, while I have the rest!"

"I, yeah, that sounds great, Sokka!" the monk agreed. "But I'm gonna be sleeping on top of the houses they made, if you don't mind. Not the greatest air flow inside, ya know?"

Reaching an arm around the smaller boy's shoulders, and leading him back to the others, the Water Tribesman reassured his friend, "Well, you're an Air Nomad, so that just makes sense!"

And they headed back, Sokka glad they'd had a good talk.

MHA

Heading back out the Gate the day after the prison break, we found ourselves once more on Zuko's ship, instead of with the Gaang. Back to training, Zuko had me working with a small flame in a walking meditation, getting a handle on air-currents and how they interacted with the fire in my hands the same way I'd already been doing on my own, but I was now able to ping him with questions, and while if I put them in scientific terms I just confused the heck out of him, when I phrased it more generally I got the answers I wanted, either from the teen or from his uncle.

For instance, given that 'Fire' was actually just a chemical reaction, and the 'flame' we saw wasn't physically there, which is why it didn't cast a shadow if a brighter light was shone on it, were we really bending 'fire', or were we bending energy, specifically thermal energy, though, given that Lightning-Bending was a sub-discipline of Firebending, we could clearly branch out into the flow of electrons that made up electrical energy as well.

And the answer, as far as I could tell, was 'Kinda?'

Not a definitive yes, because Firebenders could make their fire a physical object, like the flame daggers the prince had busted out against me, but then again I made my electrical limb physical too, somehow, so it was very much a 'fuck it, it's magic/psychic' thing to a certain extent. However, prodding the pair of Royals for stories, apparently the highest tier of master Firebenders could do things like walk through lava, which was… what?

Because unless the physics here were fucky, the convected heat alone from such a substance would fucking kill you before you even got close enough to touch to pull a 'Spicy Jesus'. Then again 'Lava' Quirks existed, which, learning about them as part of UA's curriculum, helped us understand that it was very, very rarely actual lava, and usually a weird Quirk Meta-material, though some, like Endeavor, could actually get that hot, but they also trained the fuck out of themselves to be able to survive such temperatures, the Atlas Quirk once more in play, which is how Aizawa could throw down with elemental Villains with field effects, though often times a person's main Quirk also, like with Mina and her Acid, conveyed some level of resistance, which could then be trained up, faster than one could with the Atlas Quirk alone.

And then there were people like All Might, who were just bonkers.

However, what was important there was the fact that heat manipulation was a part of Firebending, which, in retrospect, seeing Iroh heat up his tea just by touching it, obviously was a thing, and so it stood to reason that if one could deflect a fireball, one could deflect heat, though my fumbling attempts just gave me another way of putting a candle out, not by 'breaking' the flame, like I was supposed to, but by moving the heat away from its fuel-source, kinda, really just stretching the energy until its temp was no longer high enough to maintain combustion, and, 'poof', no more flame.

Which, doing a test at home with a campfire that evening, was… non-viable as a means of putting out larger fires, just because of the sheer size of the, for lack of a better term, 'heat-field' needed to drop below the ignition point of the stacked logs, as opposed to a single candlewick.

But, while I didn't have the move down yet, it should let me 'dump' waste-heat from, say, my gauntlets, giving me more, if not near-infinite, flight time!

… once I managed it!

Which… wasn't today!

Also, I learned that I couldn't maintain Quirks cross-dimensionally, or at least I couldn't with Pixie-Bob's Earth Flow, as I'd made a construct back Home to run around and work the power like you would a sore muscle, but, when I'd closed the Gate while I was on Zuko's ship, I lost the connection, and the task I'd given it had been left so not-done that it hadn't timed out, but fell apart when I could no longer feel it in the back of my head.

Now, Quirks were, by their very nature, unique, but it was definitely a data-point, and one that, realistically speaking, they couldn't have gotten back in the MHA-verse.

Where I'd be going.

In a little less than a week.

… Joy.

But I said I was going to, and if I couldn't even keep a promise to myself, how could I expect others to take me seriously?

On the bright side, my training was going well, and even without Soul Talent, which would've given me an, ironically, supernatural boost to learning the supernatural, as well as the ability to pick up the other bending styles, I was still picking things up with, according to Iroh, impressive speed. And while the man might've been blowing smoke up my ass, I was pretty sure Zuko would've given away the con, as that boy had no poker face whatsoever.

It was on the fourth day after the prison break, when I'd volunteered to make dinner, much to the Dragon of the West's gastrointestinal delight, that I saw that, despite my actions, and despite my worries, some of the same plot-beats I remembered were still going strong.

"Oh, I see you've got Katara's necklace," I noted, the bit of jewelry sitting in a display case in the prince's quarters as we sat down to eat.

"What? How?" Mina questioned, glancing over, frowning at the box.

Iroh, meanwhile, hmmmd in an interested manner. "Prince Zuko found it in a most unusual place," he commented. "On board an Earthbender prison platform, that had been emptied of both its garrison, and its… cargo. There were no bodies, but quite a bit of blood, and marks of… lighting strikes," he stated, looking at me intently.

"Oh, yeah, that was us," I easily admitted, Zuko turning an offended, betrayed glare my way, moving to stand, but, at his uncle's raised hand, hesitated, before sinking back down.

"I would believe an explanation is in order," the older royal remarked, though there was now steel in his tone.

With an uncaring shrug, having prepared for this, I turned to the scarred teen, and reminded him, in formal tones, as I mentally shifted to 'Spirit-Mode', which seemed… familiar somehow, "I don't mind your hunt, Zuko, son of Ursa, because you seek to capture Aang, not kill him. Furthermore, I have warned you that I would step in if you decided that his bounty was acceptable dead instead of alive. And, beyond that, we have had an amicable relationship, in that you haven't threatened me or mine with Sages."

"And those present did not act with such courtesy?" Iroh questioned intently.

"Threats were openly made, and, when I questioned his men if he spoke for them, none disagreed," I replied coolly, as Mina bit her lip, letting me handle this, like I'd asked, if it came up. "Also, there was something about standing orders to retaliate against their families?"

That got a pained look from the Dragon of the West, whose gaze turned away from mine, as he slowly articulated, "While it is not my way, those who are traitors to the Fire Nation are sometimes assumed to, shall we say, not be acting alone. And, without a formal statement, assumptions can be made. There was no other way?"

"When a man throws fire at The Avatar, his companions, and those with him, declaring 'No Mercy!'?" I questioned, mimicking the man's tone of voice. "There is little question of his intentions. He set the terms, none should object when we honored them."

There was a tense moment, before Zuko, tightly, questioned, "Against noncombatants?"

"A single new prisoner hit the warden in the head with a piece of coal with barely enough force to bruise, and for that, prisoners, who had surrendered to the Fire Nation under the promise of fair treatment and that their families would be spared, who despite having the means to free themselves piled up high before them refused to rise up against their captors, were to be killed to the last," I stated, Mina nodding, hands bunching up her pants, not having been happy about how that had turned out, when we discussed it afterwards, but she'd understood. "Along with myself, Mina, The Avatar, and his Water Tribe companions."

Processing that, the scarred teen looked pissed, and I prepared to call my phone and Gate out, not apologizing for what I'd done, nor willing to hide it, but, as the young man's rage built, the candle flames around us growing taller, he closed his eyes, let out a breath that was practically steaming, and the flames around us dropped to a low ebb.

Standing up, the younger royal bowed, slightly, maybe a fifteen-degree tilt, but even that…

"Prince Zuko?" Iroh questioned.

Not standing up fully, the teen stated, "This Warden acted in a manner unbecoming of the Fire Nation. If this was how we treat prisoners, Uncle, what reason would any have to surrender? If I had known, I would have killed him myself. I formally thank you for your service to my people, Denki Kaminari."

"Don't worry about it, I was merely acting in accordance with my nature," I deferred, with a dismissive wave of my hand, projecting an easygoingness I didn't really feel. "And in terms of debts, you're already helping the two of us a great deal."

Standing up fully, and giving me a nod of respect, Zuko sat back down and took a very angry bite of his pasty, the tension in the room easing.

Clearing his throat, Iroh noted, "It may be best if you did not advertise your actions on that platform."

"Oh, yeah," Mina agreed. "But Sparky insisted on tellin' ya, if ya asked."

Zuko gave me another respectful nod at that, which I returned, then I told his Uncle, "The fact that I was fairly certain you'd understand is why I'm here at all."

"Ah, good, I am glad we are all on the same page," Iroh agreed. "And, in the report we sent to the Navy, we assumed they had died to the last. As such, they served with honor, to those that may seek to spread blame unfairly."

I looked at the man, considering his words, which meant…

If some of the guards had turned traitor, and helped The Avatar, given Katara's presence there, he'd be protecting them.

That was… a thing, and, from the elder royal's slight smile, as he read my own expression, he knew that I knew what he was really saying.

"Unfortunately, you were correct in your report," I nodded, the Dragon of the West's expression broadening to a full smirk, as I got the feeling I just passed some sort of test. "That said, back to my original point, Zuko, what's your plan with that necklace?"

Looking over at it himself, the prince frowned, finishing his bite. "I don't know," he finally admitted. "It's valuable to her. Perhaps use it to get her to help me?"

"Yeah, that's not gonna work, for, like, four reasons," I replied instantly.

Turning a glare my way, he demanded, "Why not?"

"Okay, so, first of all, her mother was killed by Firebenders, so working with a Firebender, at all, is likely not going to happen," I started.

"But, I had nothing to do with that!" Zuko argued.

Mina replied for me, "PZ? I don't think she cares."

"Water Tribe Savages," the royal grumbled. "The others?"

"Second of all, that's a family heirloom, a betrothal necklace her grandmother had, passed down to her mom, and, when her mother died, killed by Firebenders, it was one of the few things she had of her mother's. Possibly the only thing." Looking at him seriously, I asked, "Would you really hold that hostage?"

The thought was not one the scarred teen, who'd lost his own mother, liked, but he rallied, declaring, "To accomplish my goal, I must use every advantage!"

With a flat look, I prodded, "But would you, now knowing what you do?"

"What's the third reason," was his response, which was an answer to my question.

"It's a bad trade. Would you give up your hunt for The Avatar in exchange for a memento of Lady Ursa's?" I proposed.

"The fourth?" Zuko demanded.

"There's no trust there to make such a deal," I stated simply, lifting a hand as he took offense. "Katara doesn't know you as anything other than a Firebender, like the one that killed her mother, except maybe you being a royal makes you higher in the hierarchy of the person who killed her mother, and thus nebulously worse. On the other hand, you can't trust that she wouldn't just pretend to help to get her necklace back, seeing as, like you said, she's a 'Water Tribe Savage', so you would only give it back after you had Aang captured, securely, at which point, with her opinion of your Nation, which people like the now deceased warden have done nothing but fortify, she'd believe you wouldn't give it back to her at all, because 'Fire Nation Bad'."

"And, fifth, it's a really bad look," Mina added. "Like, classic Villain-stuff."

Iroh, getting in on it, mused, "I could see Zasok of the Ragged Blade making a similar 'offer', not to say you would not honor yours, my prince, but if the young woman's opinion of us is that dire… I shudder to think what sort of things she's telling The Avatar."

"Her brother helps balance it out, as Sokka's pretty levelheaded," I offered. "And she also doesn't talk about it a lot, past the entire 'dead mom' thing. But, yeah, it could be better."

With an aggrieved sigh, Zuko demanded, "Then what would you do?"

"Be better," I responded, and, at the scarred teen's annoyed look, I explained, "Fix the strap, and next time you cross blades, metaphorically speaking, return it to her. Just because you are, in her eyes, a bad guy, does not mean you must be bad guy," stated, with a Zangeif accent, causing Mina to giggle. "Or, like, you're trying to make sure the Fire Nation wins this war, so you're going to be her enemy, no matter what, but you don't need to be an asshole about it."

"I believe the term you are dancing around is 'Honorable Opponent'," the Dragon of the West mused.

With a nod and a wave to him, I agreed, "Yeah, that. You're not trying to kill Katara or Sokka, right?"

"That's not my mission," Zuko replied tersely.

"So, by showing you're reasonable, unlike, say, the warden, you'll be more likely to make them pull their punches as well, which will make your job that much easier," I explained. And, if he succeeded, I would need to step in, but, honestly, I wasn't expecting him to.

Stroking his beard, Iroh noted, "The best victories are won before the fight truly begins, Prince Zuko. This move would not gain you victory, but would certainly shift the battlefield more to your advantage. It is a pity that those like the deceased warden was that side of our great nation that The Avatar has been shown."

Slowly nodding, the scarred teen argued, "I shouldn't have to prove myself to them, but… Savages. I will admit, your suggestion has… some merit, Denki."

"And it's just a suggestion," I offered, then paused, as another thought occurred to me, vaguely remembering the timeline of the original series. "Uh, quick question, when is the Winter Solstice?"

"It is in two days," Iroh informed me, reading my expression. "This is concerning?"

"Well… shit," I swore, Mina looking over to me in confusion. "Wanna know where Aang's gonna be in two days?"

Giving me a suspicious look, the prince questioned, "Why would you tell me? You've been clear on how you won't help."

"Because your hunt I respect. Admiral Zhao's, on the other hand…" I trailed off. "Bastard will probably end up killing Aang when the kid tries to escape, and that cannot come to pass."

Iroh and Zuko shared a glance, the elder royal inquiring, "And where would The Avatar be?"

"Roku's Temple, to have a chat with him, because Aang has no idea what's going on, and is looking for guidance," I supplied. "Probably. I don't have an itinerary, but, from what I've seen of the kid, that's my best guess."

Frowning, the younger royal stated, "That's in the Fire Nation. I've been exiled."

"You think Aang cares?" I shrugged.

"Prince Zuko," Iroh warned, "this would be very dangerous. Perhaps-"

"Would I have your help?" the scarred teen demanded, staring me in the eye. "I can't capture The Avatar when he's in the Fire Nation. This wouldn't be 'interfering' with my task. If you're right, it would be stopping an honorless excuse for a man and Firebender."

With a grin, I nodded, Mina mirroring me. "Of course we'll help," I told Zuko. "We'd be saving the world, after all! That's what Heroes like us do!"

AN: Writing Aang is always... interesting. As usual, the next four chapters are up on Pat-reon and Subscribestar!