Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: I hope not.

Zigzagdoublezee: Zuko saved the acting troupe in the last story, and now that act of kindness is coming back to benefit him. Plus I like those characters too much for Zuko simply to never see them again.

As Always, Please Review!

Katara dashed out of the building, the others hurriedly standing up and rushing to follow.

"What's going on?" Sokka asked anxiously. "What did she tell you?"

Rinzen dashed back to the counter to pay as Katara carried on walking.

"Waterbenders," Katara replied. "There are waterbenders coming here!"

"Really?" Suki asked. "And that's made you excited because...?"

"They're waterbenders! They could be from dad!"

"Or they could be northerners," Yue said quietly. "Maybe more escaped."

They all nodded. But Sokka didn't seem convinced.

"I think we should be careful," he said.

Katara stopped and turned to him.

"I've just come out of a meeting with a woman who can see the future," she said. "Wu said there was nothing to worry about."

Yue stopped, her eyes widening.

"What about Chin Village?" She asked.

Katara turned to face them.

"I know. But if it was them, surely she would have told us it was them!"

"Would she?" Sokka asked. "There was a lot she didn't seem to know, after all. She couldn't tell me how the war would end."

"She couldn't tell me anything about my future," Yue remembered. "Not much, anyway. She said there was something wrong with me that meant she couldn't do it."

"A likely story," Sokka turned back to Katara, folding his arms.

"Maybe we shouldn't just automatically assume the worst," Suki pointed out. "But we should be careful."

"Is that them?" Sokka asked, pointing.

Sure enough, a cart was rattling its way down the road, flanked by several men wearing blue robes. Another sat on the vehicle, holding the reins of an ostrich-horse which pulled it along. They were carrying some cargo which was covered with a sheet. Yue counted ten men in total, all of them around her own age.

"They are water tribe, alright," Suki murmured.

People stepped out of the way as the driver saw them and directed the cart towards them, waving. Rinzen joined the rest of the Yuad as he drew to a halt in front of them.

"Princess!" The driver called, standing up in his seat and bowing deeply. "I'm so glad we found you at last."

"Who are you?" Sokka demanded. "What do you want with us?"

"I know you," Yue stepped forwards before any of them could speak. "You're northerners."

A half-smile crept across her face. She had not seen any of her own people, those she had known in her life before the Avatar and the war, except Pakku since the night the North had fallen.

She pointed at the lead one.

"You're Yura," she said. The man bowed.

"I am honoured that you remember my name," he said. But Yue was not finished. She pointed to each of the others in turn, naming them.

"Toklo... Kova... Inuk... Akiak... Atka... Hanta... Katjuk... Miki... Nukik."

Each bowed in turn. Yue noticed that while some of them smiled at the recognition, others looked at her with sullen eyes and some of them looked nervous. All were sweating, which Yue put down to the temperature here in the central earth kingdom being far hotter than they were used to in the North Pole. She herself had become more acquainted with it over her journey, and the cooler clothes she had acquired at the Northern Air Temple had definitely helped with that.

She grinned.

"Well, I am delighted to see familiar faces from home again," she told them happily. "How did you escape?"

The group looked around.

"From the Fire Nation, you mean?" One of them clarified.

"Yes," Yue nodded. "From the Fire Nation."

"We were surrounded," Yura told her. "But we managed to fight our way out and find a ship. We landed on the northern coast of the Earth Kingdom and came to find you. Once we'd heard you had also escaped of course, for which we can only thank Tui and La for their protection."

Yue nodded.

"Why?" Katara asked.

"She's the Princess, of course!" Hanta said enthusiastically. Yue stopped for a moment. Had she heard that voice before somewhere?

"But I am afraid I bring bad news," Yura said. "Do we have anywhere we can talk more privately?"

"Why?" Yue asked. She gestured to the rest of the Yuad.

"These are my friends. They have been with me through thick and thin. I trust them completely. Anything you can say to me, you can say to them."

"Right," Yura said delicately. "I'm afraid this news might be a bit personal though. It concerns your father. Chief Arnook."

Yue's blood ran cold. She had no idea what had happened to her father. She hadn't seen him since the feast at which she had been proclaimed as the new avatar. She hadn't even really spoken to him then. She had run away, met Sokka, and then the Fire Nation attack had begun. Everything had happened so fast after that...

"What about him?" She demanded. "Do you know what happened to him? Did you see him that night?"

The door to the tea shop burst open behind her, accompanied by the sound of hurrying footsteps, but she paid it no mind, focussing solely on Yura.

He shrugged.

"I did see him," she said. "But like I said, I don't think I should be telling you this in front of everyone."

Yue was just about to agree, to suggest he come inside the tea shop and tell his story there, when she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder. She jumped about a foot in the air with surprise and turned to find Wu stood there, panting. She extended a trembling finger towards Yura.

"The fire..." she managed. "The bone... it told me..."

She straightened up and looked Yura dead in the eye.

"It showed me the mark of the Fire Nation. On you."

Yura stared at her for a moment, and then burst out laughing.

"What is she on about?" He asked. But several of the others looked visibly panicked, Yue noticed. She looked again at Yura. Some of that sweat looked more like nerves than a reaction to the heat.

For a moment, both sides stared at one another, an awful impasse settling over the group. And then the covers on the back of the cart flew backwards and a figure jumped out, landing next to the vehicle in a combat stance. A firebending stance.

Yue just had time to register the black and red clothes he was wearing, and the fact he looked to be in his early to mid twenties, before he struck, punching a fireball straight towards her.