Happy Freedom Day to all my Portuguese readers, happy Liberation Day to the Italians!

Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: Probably not, no.

Zigzagdoublezee: Yeah, the Submarines actually are from canon. If the Earth Kingdom fails to defeat their enemies in battle, then severing their connection to the Fire Nation home islands, depriving them of new supplies, weapons, and reinforcements, might be a good way to win the war. And sinking all the ships bringing them over with submarines would be a good way of doing that.

As Always, Please Review!

Zuko was woken up by the sound of absolute pandemonium in the house.

Following the performance at the Air Nomad's conference, and the commission from the Earth King, they had gone up in the world; the theatre troupe had been able to go from crammed accommodation in the lower ring to a spacious house in the middle ring, and Zuko and Mai had jumped at the opportunity to leave their unfurnished apartment behind to join them. They had been given their own room together, and now had an actual bed! This was the first time Zuko had slept in an actual proper bed since... since his last night at home in the Palace in Hari Bulkan. Then they had sailed for the North Pole, for what Zuko had believed to be a perfectly normal diplomatic mission, and this whole ordeal had started.

He opened his eyes, confused by all the shouting. Normally he should be the first one to get up, he was after all the only firebender here, as far as he knew. But not this time. Next to him, Mai stirred.

"What's happening?" She asked.

"No idea," Zuko sat up groggily. He listened, to see if he could make out words in all the chaos. When he couldn't, he got out of bed and stomped over to the door.

Outside, the theatre group were all rushing around, throwing on the smartest clothes they could get their hand on as they yelled at each other incoherently. Zuko flagged down one of them, Joji, as he was brushing his hair.

"What's happening?" He asked.

"The Avatar's here!" Joji told him excitedly. "In the city!"

Zuko didn't know what to say for a moment. For the longest time, he had written off the Avatar as captured, having given herself up to buy time for the column of refugees he had been a part of to move on. Then he had heard that no, she was free again, and now apparently she had come to Ba Sing Se. That meant there was a high chance of actually seeing her again, and he was not sure how he felt about that.

"That's... lucky," he eventually managed.

"We're going to see her. We need to interview her to do research for this play we need to write!" Joji grinned at him and then hurried away to continue his preparations. Zuko watched him go, and then closed the door.

"The Avatar is here," he announced to Mai.

"She is?" Mai raised an eyebrow. "Took her long enough."

"I'm sure she's just been busy," Zuko reasoned. "They're headed over there now to interrogate her."

"They are?" Mai asked. "Why not us?"

"The Avatar has met us," Zuko pointed out. "Didn't you say you saw her?"

"I don't know if she remembers me, it was brief and it was quite a while ago now," Mai said, standing up and stretching. "And she was in a prison wagon. I'd say she had bigger things to worry about."

"Well, she knows who I am," Zuko replied. "And so do all her friends. I don't think they like me very much."

"Don't they? What have you done to them?"

"Nothing," Zuko shrugged. "I even helped them, it's why we're here. But I don't think they like the Fire Nation in general."

"Can't think why," Mai quipped.

"Yue herself seems fine though," Zuko continued. "But I don't know how she'll react to us turning up on her doorstep to interview her about her life. She could think we're there to spy on her."

"I think Avatar Yue has more sense than that," Mai told him. "She wouldn't have got this far otherwise."

"Even so, what if she calls me by my real name in public?" Zuko asked. "One accidental 'Oh hello Prince Zuko' and we'll have the Dai Li at the door asking us some very difficult questions."

"Again, I think Avatar Yue has more sense than that," Mai looked out of the window.

"Does she? She's probably never worried about secret identities before, not looking like that. She has such a distinctive appearance that everyone knows who she is all the time. And all it takes is one slip-up..."

"So what are you going to do then?"Mai turned to fix him with a hard stare.

"Stay here," Zuko replied, sitting down on the bed. "Why do anything else? They can manage the interview just fine."

Mai stared at him for a few seconds.

"You know they're probably going to find out you're here," she told him. "Sooner or later. Why not go now and explain the situation? Get inside as soon as possible if you have to."

She sat down on the other side of the bed.

"I think trying to hide from her will only make you look worse," she said gently. "You've never actually done anything to them?"

"Never," Zuko said.

"Then why worry? I'm sure they know that. And if the worst comes to the worst, if Yue is on your side and we do get caught by the Earth King, she can vouch for us!"

"If father could hear us now," Zuko smiled ruefully. "Talking about having the Avatar on our side. He'd be furious."

Mai snorted.

"Oh, he'd be livid," she agreed. "But he's also not here. Let's worry about the people who are for the moment."

Zuko nodded, thoughtfully. She did have a point. Yue wouldn't turn him in. Would she?

"We'll have to hurry to get ready though, they're already nearly out of the door."

There was a moment where the two of them gazed at each other from either side of the bed, and then Mai leaned in and kissed him. When they broke apart, she was smiling.

"Come on, let's go," she said, standing up. "It might be an awkward conversation at first, but it's got to be better than skulking here in fear of whatever might happen."

Zuko nodded, standing up to get changed.

"Alright," he said. "Let's go then. If we rush we can probably still catch them!"