"Is that normal?" Meixiang asked quietly.

Zuko watched Jinhai sleep in a curled lump in Meixiang's small garden, breathing easily. "Fire's not like the other elements. It comes from inside you. You have to build up your strength. My bending showed up late, too. I needed a lot of naps." Which had made him very cranky. Naps were for little kids. Thank the spirits his mother had a sense of humor.

He glanced over the faces of two worried parents, and a sister whose protective bearing reminded him so much of Lu Ten, it hurt. "One good thing about being a firebender. We don't sunburn easily." Which had been lifesaving when they'd been floating on the raft with little shelter-

"I guess that's another thing you have to watch out for," Zuko sighed. So many little details. So many ways to get caught.

And that's when someone's not looking for Fire Nation. I have to tell them.

"I meant to get here earlier," Zuko said levelly. "I wasn't, because I had to lose someone." He held up a hand. "Goes by Jet. He's about this tall. Messy brown hair, brown eyes. Hook swords. Chews on a wheat straw, all the time. He saw my uncle and I on the ferry to Ba Sing Se, and he's sure we're firebenders. Well, that Uncle is," Zuko amended. "I've pretty much got him convinced I'm a waterbender."

"How?" Suyin asked, while her parents were still sputtering.

"We were in a teashop. I hit him with a bunch of hot water," Zuko answered, sheepishly avoiding parts of the truth. "Healing means moving fire in ways most benders don't try. I can move fire inside hot water. It's kind of neat."

"Inventive," Tingzhe said, stunned, as Meixiang stared at him. "Have you tried this with anything else? Earth, perhaps?"

"Not yet," Zuko managed, shaken by the sudden possibilities. "Sand might work… it works in water because water flows, like heat…."

Air flows, too.

Agni. I've got to try it.

Just once, just once, he'd like Aang to know what it felt like to be blown through a building. A little humility would lengthen the Avatar's lifespan.

"Thank you," Zuko said, and meant it. "I'll try that. Later. But you have to watch out for this moron. He's dangerous. Uncle's been acting like an old civilian, and Jet still went after him. If he thought he knew about Jinhai…." Zuko looked Suyin in the eye, deadly serious. "He doesn't care who he hurts, to get back at the Fire Nation. Don't face him. Just run."

"But you did lose him?" Meixiang asked, visibly reining in fear with determination.

"I've had practice," Zuko admitted. "Now that I know he's still looking, I'll be more careful. I won't lead him to you." He met her gaze squarely. "Can you warn people? Huojin already knows about Jet, and I'm going to tell Amaya, but I want to make sure everyone gets word."

"I will." Meixiang inclined her head, almost a bow.

Zuko winced. "Don't do that. Please."

She eyed him, one black brow lifted. "My lord, even if you chose to leave, you can't abandon what you were born-"

"I didn't choose to leave!" Say it. Just- get it out. "I'm an exile, Meixiang. I was banished." Fists clenched, nails denting skin. No fire. Not here. "If you want a lord, look for someone with honor." I lost mine. Lost everything….

But I won't let you lose what you love. I can do that much. I will.

"You lost an Agni Kai," Meixiang said at last.

Obvious, isn't it? "I didn't even fight," Zuko got out. "How could I? He was-" my father "-someone I owed loyalty to. I couldn't."

"An Agni what?" Tingzhe asked warily.

"A fire duel," Meixiang said plainly. "We're children of dragons, Tingzhe. Sometimes the only way to settle things is with a fight."

"And the Fire Nation calls itself civilized?" her husband said incredulously. "When we have disagreements here-"

"You argue, and shout at each other, and start whispering campaigns that can go on for generations?" Meixiang said pointedly. "When an Agni Kai's over, it's over. Decided. Done. And everyone's loyalty is satisfied. You've risked your life for what you believe is right. No lord can ask for more than that." She looked back at Zuko. "But you couldn't have been more than a child."

"I was thirteen." He couldn't help but glance at Suyin. "That's old enough."

The girl swallowed dryly. "Is - is that why you're training me?"

"No," Zuko said, incredulous. How could she even think - Earth Kingdom. She doesn't know. "That's self-defense. You have to be a firebender for an Agni Kai. Honor duels for non-benders are blade fights. I mean, you could learn swords, if you wanted to." He caught Tingzhe's stern look, and tried to shrug. "I know, spears and throwing knives are more traditional, but I'm lousy with them…."

Tingzhe's eyes darkened further. The earthbender cracked his knuckles.

"Don't threaten him just for the truth, love," Meixiang said, amused. "Dragon's children. But we don't have fangs and claws. We have to settle for steel and fire." She eyed Zuko again. "But thirteen? What happened?"

Zuko froze. I can't tell them. I can't.

He'd never told anyone about that day. Not even Uncle. And Iroh had been there.

She's got this crazy idea I'm still a lord. I can't let her believe that. We're going to make it so they can get out of the city. If she wants someone to be loyal to… she has to find someone better.

I have to tell her something.

"I should have listened to Uncle, and kept my mouth shut," Zuko said at last. "I should have stayed out of the war room. But I thought I had responsibilities to learn about… it was a bad idea." He took a breath, trying not to feel. "One of the gen- one of the commanders was planning to gain a tactical advantage by sending new recruits up against trained earthbenders. To lure them out into the open. I said we couldn't do that to our people." He would not touch the scar. "He challenged. I should have backed down. But I wasn't afraid. Not of him." Zuko tried to shrug, and failed. "I can be really, really stupid, sometimes."

"Yes, well," Tingzhe said uncomfortably. "You can't always judge a bender's skill by his looks."

"No." A bare whisper, but Zuko got it out. "No, when I turned around… it wasn't him." Don't shake. Not now. It's over. It's been over for years.

"That's dishonorable!" Meixiang's own hands were fists, white-knuckled. "Your family should have blocked the duel from proceeding! They should have protested, even to the Fire Lord's ears-"

It wasn't funny. Not even close. So why was he laughing? Laughing to the point it hurt, and he had to lean against the house wall, tears running down his face.

Don't wake up Jinhai. He shouldn't see this.

Dragging in a sobbing breath, Zuko shoved the pain back into that dark corner of his mind. "It wouldn't have worked," he managed raggedly. "The Fire Lord has a thing about respect."

Dashing away tears, he straightened. "Uncle took care of me after - after. So I didn't die. The first day I could get out of bed-" He remembered the crinkle of the decree in Azula's hands. Her smirk, knowing and cruel, as he read through the terms. Uncle's face, finding her there; a grim puzzlement that changed to cold fury as she skipped away down the hall, humming.

Don't think about it.

"Uncle went with me," Zuko said simply. "He didn't have to. He's never been banished. I'd be dead a dozen times without him." He looked at Meixiang, and shook his head. "Find someone else."

Put the pain away. Focus. Survive.

Outwardly calm, Zuko bowed to the professor. "I promised Master Amaya I'd be at the clinic for the evening hours. I'll be back tomorrow."

He headed out through the house, and didn't look back.

He looks like death warmed over.

Amaya steered her dazed apprentice out of the waiting room, past curious patients. "Where are you hurt?" she asked in an undertone.

"I'm not injured." Lee bristled at her look of disbelief; even his irritation looked weary. "Just tired. Jinhai's parents had questions. Some of them were hard to answer. I ran into Jet again, he's still after Uncle; lost him in an alley, hope he starts thinking before I have to hurt him. And - one of the people around Bosco loaned me this." Face almost blank, he handed over a blue-capped scroll.

A waterbending scroll.

"I'm not injured," he repeated flatly, as she glanced up at him. He swallowed, fingers clenching. "I can work."

I don't want to think, Amaya could all but hear the silent plea. Please, give me something to do.

"Start with Nin," she sighed. "He's managed to twist his back again. You'll work on minor healing, and you'll stop when I say."

A subdued nod. "Yes, Master Amaya."

This is going to be a long afternoon.

So this is what we've got to work with.

Disguised in civilian clothes, rock gloves tucked up his sleeves, Shirong watched the class of university earthbending students in their stone-walled practice yard. Most were fair. A few were excellent, the kind who'd end up specialists on the Wall or architects and delicate stoneworkers in the city itself. But of all the students here, only one had the drive, the killer instinct, to potentially become Dai Li.

Min Wen.

Paired against an older teenager, Min split his wall of stone with a slice of his hand and punched the fragment against his opponent. The older boy stamped another wall up in time to take the blow, but both rocks shattered.

Skill is there. And he's fast enough. We could certainly train him to our level.

But to be honest with himself - and having seen the spirits he'd seen, Shirong tried very hard to be honest with himself - it wasn't earthbending skill that worried him.

Professor Wen's son.

Problematic, right there. Tingzhe Wen certainly acted like a man still living in Avatar Kyoshi's era, but there was nothing wrong with the man's mind. He knew enough to know what he shouldn't talk about, but some of his students hadn't been so wise.

A good teacher loved his students, and Tingzhe Wen was a very good teacher. One day that might outweigh his prudence. Could Min Wen deal with being one of those who might have to make his own father disappear?

And if he can - do we want that kind of recruit?

There were other reasons to be wary of the boy. Harder for Shirong to pin down, but real nonetheless.

He's too eager.

Burning with zeal, like a flame loosed on flash-paper. If the Dai Li weren't all he'd dreamed, if the hard reality of their dirty work to keep Ba Sing Se stable fell short of what Min aspired to… who could say he wouldn't be as quick to turn that zeal toward something else?

Still. Feelings, no matter how trained and tested, weren't reason enough to deny the boy a chance. They needed new recruits. Or Quan and the Grand Secretariat wouldn't even consider Lee.

And that would be a damn shame.

Min Wen had never faced death. Lee had, and dealt it; you could see it in his eyes, whenever the young man forgot to play innocent. Yet Lee still cared about people. Even if he thought most of them were flighty and annoying.

Frankly, the Earth King was flighty and annoying. But he was the hereditary ruler of Ba Sing Se, Shirong had a duty, and that was that.

Another point in his favor. Lee understands duty.

Duty or not, Shirong would never have wanted to do that to Bosco. Lee had hesitated, examined the bear to see if there were any other way to get at the obstruction short of cutting the creature open… then grimaced, and did what had to be done.

I like him.

Shirong raised an eyebrow at that thought, turning it over carefully. He'd survived two decades in the Dai Li's ranks. You didn't last that long without paying attention to the chill down your neck that told you when spirits were about to drop the mother of all landslides on top of you.

Lee felt… warm. Strong. Safe, in the way wearing his rock gloves and working with a tested agent felt safe.

If we were backed against a wall, he'd fight.

Though all things considered, the healing was an even more critical asset. Every year the Avatar had been missing, the spirits had grown more ill-tempered; more ready to lash out at humans for the smallest infraction. That wasn't superstition, it was fact. You could track the increasing assaults in Dai Li records, the lists of people gone fey and strange-

Lee's fought a spirit.

If he'd been alone, Shirong might have indulged in a smack to the forehead. As it was he only winced, and wondered why he hadn't pinned that down before.

He was playing innocent. Pretty well, too.

But it was clear enough, once Shirong had pinned down that feeling of safety and strength. People who'd met the spirit world, who'd dealt with it - there was a presence to them. A feeling of elsewhere, that went beyond even the strength of a bender.

It's not just our uniform that frightens people.

No wonder Lee could look him in the eye without flinching. The otherness was already in him, setting him apart from those who lived quiet, ordinary lives.

You poor kid. I hope you do make it with us. You're never going to fit in with normal people again.

Though healer was a good second choice. Amaya was spirit-touched, too. No one expected a waterbending healer to be normal.

Wonder if you've figured that out yet?

If Lee hadn't, Shirong might just point it out to him. If he really wasn't interested in being Dai Li. A waterbending healer on call was no small asset.

Decided, Shirong turned his full attention back to Min as the teen almost literally crushed his next opponent under a mini-pile of rubble. Ouch.

Which was when four bruised and dusty former opponents all decided they'd had enough, and literally boxed Min in.

Tch, tch. You forgot the top.

A fact Min made swift use of, soaring up on a spike of earth before kicking the four walls back to their creators. But now more students were advancing, plus one of the instructors….

Grinning, Shirong leaned back to watch the show.

Dad's in his study, Min's still eating dust at school, Jia's got Jinhai on pain of no nights out with her girlfriends if she lets him down here while Mom's cooking. Best chance I'm going to get. "Mom?" Suyin said quietly, standing at the edge of the kitchen as her mother chopped vegetables. "What did Lee mean about finding another lord?"

It was the best question she could think of. The only one, about that whole awful scene in the garden, that wouldn't just get a "you're too young to know" from her parents. She hoped.

Meixiang looked at her sadly, the way she'd looked after Lee had fled. Her brows drew down, and she nodded, determined. "Would you peel the potato-chokes?"

"Yes, ma'am," Suyin said hurriedly, picking up a bristle-brush to scrub the pot of tubers. Studying each before it went under her brush, putting aside three that had enough sprouts to be worth planting. 'Choke flowers were pretty, and fresh young tubers in the fall, with a little butter, were about the best breakfast ever.

"I don't want to tell Jinhai about this until he's older," her mother began. "He can keep training a secret, I hope, but stories of spirits and dragons… well, what child is going to keep that from his playmates? But you're old enough to know."

"What do lords have to do with spirits and dragons?" Suyin asked, still scrubbing.

"Oma and Shu were the first earthbenders, but they were human. It's said the first firebenders were the children of a bright, brave lady, who appeared to her lord when he was on the brink of death, and the sun shone through the rain. She nursed him back to life, fought by his side, and raised their children." Meixiang paused. "And when her lord died, she turned back into a dragon, and flew away."

The 'choke didn't quite slip out of Suyin's hands, but she was glad she hadn't yet picked up a knife. "She was a dragon?"

"Not the only one in our history," Meixiang said plainly. "Many of our greatest heroes, and blackest villains, are said to have had dragon's blood. You can check the genealogies. There are names that come from nowhere, raise children, and vanish. Vanish, not die." She paused, and shook her head. "Or you could have checked them. Fire Lord Sozin outlawed all mention of such people, when he started the hunting of dragons."

Made sense. In a weird kind of way. You wouldn't want to try to get people to hunt down their… relatives. "Do we have-?" Suyin couldn't quite say it.

"We do," her mother nodded. "Your little brother would be proof enough, if I hadn't heard my grandfather's stories." Meixiang regarded her, concerned. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. But it makes us different. We need lords. Dragons… they don't negotiate. One dragon is in charge of one territory, and all the others who live there bow to him. Or her. Or there's a fight, until the loser leaves or submits. Or so the tales say."

Like the pygmy pumas Suyin had watched on the roofs sometimes, snarling and posturing and, once in a while, dissolving into teeth and claws. Which might draw blood, but usually didn't kill anybody.

Like an Agni Kai?

"So," Suyin said, trying to piece it together. "If there weren't lords - people would be fighting all the time?"

"My grandfather read stories written by his several times great-grandfather, about a time when the Fire Nation was all warring clans and pirates," Meixiang nodded. "Ask your father about it. He knows more about the reign of the forty-sixth Earth King than any of us."

Good idea. "But you don't have to fight anybody," Suyin objected.

Meixiang hesitated, and sighed. "Suyin. Do you know why Jinhai - your quiet, shy little brother - hugged a boy he'd only seen once?"

"Well, I…." Suyin's voice trailed off, as she thought about that. It made sense. Didn't it? Why wouldn't Jinhai trust Lee? Lee was-

Suyin jerked her head up to meet her mother's gaze. "Lee feels… safe." And that didn't make sense. It didn't make sense at all.

"Oh," Meixiang whispered. Put her knife down, and reached over to hug her daughter close. "Oh, my brave little girl. I didn't know."

"Mom?" Why did her heart feel all fluttery, like this was scary and important as Mom telling her about being alone with boys and why not to do anything unless you had dragged him home to meet armed parents first?

"The strongest dragon rules, but he also protects." Meixiang's gaze searched hers. "Fire is loyal. All its children are. First to your parents, and then to your family. After that, your loyalty is your choice. Be careful who you give it to. Breaking it will break your heart." She looked down, pale and worried. "For a firebender… breaking it kills them."

That sounds crazy. But it wasn't. Suyin could feel it wasn't. She'd rather die than hurt her parents, her brothers, her sister. Wasn't that why she'd fought so hard to keep Jinhai hidden? She'd rather die-

Or kill.

The thought had been there, gnawing, ever since Lee told them about Jet. That's what a pygmy puma did, when something went after her kittens. She'd hiss and slash claws and try everything else first. But if that didn't work….

"Mommy," Suyin whispered, and clung to her.

"I know, sweeting. I know." Meixiang rocked her gently, stroking her hair. "That's why I want you to pay attention to your lessons with Lee. Because if some bastard comes after you, or any of us - I want you to be the one who walks away. Maim him if you have to. Kill him if you have to. Live." Another hug. "And remember what I told Jinhai. If there's trouble, real trouble - find Lee, or his uncle. They're great names. They will protect you."

"Lee's lord didn't protect him," Suyin sniffled.

"That should never have happened," Meixiang said sadly. "The good lords are loyal to their people, even children not old enough to-" She froze.

"Mom?" Suyin whispered.

"Oh, spirits," Meixiang breathed. "That poor boy. No wonder he doesn't think he's…." She let out a slow breath, and let go. "Suyin, can you finish these? I need to talk with your father."

Suyin nodded. "About Lee?"

"About something I hoped I'd never have to study again," Meixiang said, half to herself. "Politics."

The knock on his door wasn't unexpected. Just a bit early. Tingzhe sighed, and put down a mostly untouched glass of wine. "Come in."

Meixiang saw what he had spread out on the desk, and closed the door before she shook her head. "You know what they could do to you, if they catch you with those."

"Bai's gone," Tingzhe said sadly, ruffling through his former student's notes. "This is all I have left of him." He shrugged, and offered her a wry smile. "Besides. Everyone knows I have no interest in current events. Why would anything like these be here?"

"You sly deceiver." Meixiang's smile lit her face, warming his heart all over again. "I'd match you against the Face-Stealer any day."

"I hope not," Tingzhe chuckled. Let his expression turn serious again. "What is it?"

"Lee's Agni Kai." Meixiang winced. "It was his father."

Ah. That fit, unfortunately. "How do you know?"

"He was thirteen. He couldn't owe loyalty to anyone but his family. His uncle's here. And the way he talks about his mother? It couldn't have been her."

Spirits, that possibility hadn't even occurred to him. What sort of land taught mothers to fight?

The kind that maims and exiles a boy at thirteen.

No. He couldn't blame the land for that. The Fire Lord, certainly.

I wonder if Lee ever has.

Meixiang was frowning at him, tapping a finger against her hip. "You're not surprised."

That was his wife. Clear-sighted as a messenger hawk. "I believe I know who he is," Tingzhe said simply.

Meixiang looked at the wine he ordinarily wouldn't touch until after dinner. "It's that bad?"

"No," Tingzhe said thoughtfully, "it's worse." He sighed. "Mind you, this is only an educated guess. The circumstances under which the boy in question was scarred were apparently not common knowledge. But the timing fits. Unless the Fire Lord banished some other great name's son that year, and Bai never had a chance to find out. This is one of the last fragments he found, before… well." Still. That laughter. Awful, soul-shredding; as if the boy had only just realized how obscenely unjust the universe had been.

"Tingzhe." Meixiang gave him a sober look. "Why don't you just tell me?"

"Because you can't not know, once you know," Tingzhe said bluntly. Hesitated, and told the truth. "And… I don't know what will happen. You called him my lord." He dropped his head, ashamed. "I don't want to lose you."

"Oh, Tingzhe." She took his hands between hers, kneading earth-worn fingers. "I'm your wife. You and the children always come first." She gave him a smile of quiet mischief. "Why do you think we train girls to fight? So when husbands or brothers do something stupid, they can protect the children. No matter what their lords do." Her voice dropped. "I love you. No lord can change that."

I love you, too. I have to trust you. "Not even this one?"

Meixiang read Bai's notes. Stopped. Reread them, slowly.

Reached past him, and slugged good wine down like water.

"Precisely," Tingzhe said dryly.

She let out a slow breath. "He said he was here with his uncle."

"If Bai was right, he only has the one," Tingzhe said wryly. "I must admit, the thought of that man inside these walls turns my spine to water. What on earth is he planning?"

"He's not," Meixiang said after a long moment. "They're hiding. Just like the rest of us."

Tingzhe gave her a skeptical look.

"They came to Amaya, love. A man in his position… he wouldn't be here if there were any hope left for them in the Fire Nation."

"A man in his position is far more likely to be carrying out a long-reaching plot-"

"Here? Alone? With only Lee? Hiding with a waterbender's help?" Meixiang studied him, and shook her head. "What's more likely? A plot? Or a man trying to save his nephew by coming to the only place in the world they can hide?"

Tingzhe sighed. "Lee said he'd done things he wasn't proud of." The commander of the ship, indeed. "It's only…how can that man's son be the young man we let into our home?" He was gentle with Jinhai. Kind. Not an implacable enemy. Not a monster. "How could any man do that to his own son?"

"We could ask his brother."

Tingzhe eyed his wife suspiciously. "You're not serious."

"Why not?" Meixiang looked almost impish. "We're having Huojin, Luli, and their girls over next week anyway. Why not invite them, too? Lee will be busy with Jinhai and Suyin, and Lim and Daiyu, and probably fending off Jia, and getting glared at by Min. We'll have plenty of time to corner his uncle and… talk."

"I'd rather corner an enraged dillo-lion," Tingzhe muttered.

"That's why we need to plan this, dear."

"Ah, yes. A plan." Tingzhe nodded. "I'm doomed."

"Here." Amaya set a steaming cup in front of her apprentice, grateful for the quiet as the last regular patients walked away from her door. She'd unlock the front if there was an emergency, but for now, they were alone. "I know you're not fond of tea, and this is good for someone who's had a bad day."

Lee sniffed it first. Brightened a little, like a shaft of sun through rain, before taking a hot sip. "You have limons?"

"Some trade goes through, even these days," Amaya nodded, relaxing a little. Honey and limon in hot water eased a multitude of heartaches. "They're one thing I would miss, if I ever lost my mind and went back to the tribe."

"You don't miss your people?"

"I do," Amaya admitted. "But for decades they've been waiting for something that never happened." The Avatar to be born into the Northern Water Tribe.

It was a reasonable assumption. The Air Nomads were dead, and no one had seen the Avatar. Why shouldn't he have been killed, and reborn? She'd seen the shamans of her tribe testing child after child, to no avail.

She was a bender, and a woman, and not the Avatar. Meaning her parents would likely accept her betrothal to the first strong bender who offered. Master Pakku had been on their list of candidates; he'd been mourning Kanna as lost for years, surely he was ready to look for another bride.

But that hadn't been quite enough to push her into leaving. No; that decision had come from what she'd overheard, inadvertently eavesdropping on one of the shaman's tests.

Find the Avatar. Train him.

Destroy the Fire Nation.

Defeat the Fire Nation, certainly. But destroy it? Break the cycle of elements further, just for revenge? She wouldn't be part of that. She couldn't. There had to be another way.

"I miss them," Amaya admitted now. "But I needed an answer I couldn't find at the North Pole. So I left." She smiled, recalling a giant webbed claw, a face both kind and terrible. "The answer I found gave me many more questions, but it's made my life interesting." She tapped the scroll. "As is this. It must be at least two centuries old… you say a Dai Li gave it to you?"

"Loaned it," Lee stressed. "I think he's trying to recruit me."

Amaya considered that impossible statement. Shook her head. Thought it through again. "Spirits. Why?"

"I don't know. I'm going to ask Uncle." Lee frowned. "I told him I'd need your permission to learn what's on here." He paused. "Are you going to try the forms? He said your tribe doesn't teach women benders to fight, which is one of the silliest things I've ever- um." He visibly bit his lip. "What I mean is, I don't know waterbending, but I know combat forms. I could help. If you wanted."

Amaya's brows climbed, taking in those shy hints of interest. "You want to try these." Which made no sense, except- "You think you could approximate the forms with boiling water?"

"…Maybe?" Lee said awkwardly.

Hmm. Not all the truth. But there was life in his gaze, where before there had been weary horror.

Decided, Amaya unrolled the scroll. "Let's have a look." Hmm. The water whip, circling waves, breath of ice-

"You have a breathing form?" Lee looked downright interested.

"Not one I think you could fake," Amaya pointed out.

"Not with firebending," Lee admitted. "But I wonder if that's what gave Uncle the idea."

"What idea?" Amaya asked warily. Mushi was a good man, from what she'd seen. Not bad looking, either, if a bit pale. But given his ideas had already landed a healing firebender in her clinic- well.

Lee got up from the table, took a few steps back. Breathed deep. And breathed out licks of flame.

Amaya tried not to stare.

"It's good for staying warm," Lee said shyly. "Or if a waterbender locks you in ice. That's happened to me."

Amaya whistled. "I've never heard of firebenders doing that." Much the opposite. Icing over a firebender was lethal. Or so she'd been taught.

"Uncle invented it," Lee said proudly. "He-" The teenager blanched.

Amaya frowned, then realized the likely cause. "That would give away who you are, to another firebender?"

"…Maybe." Lee looked stricken.

"Lee." She tried not to chuckle. Really. "There can't be that many great names out there who've been declared - what was the term your uncle used, traitors to the Dragon Throne? If I wanted to learn who you were, I probably could." Amaya gave him a serious look. "But I won't. That is your secret, and I will not take it from you." You've lost so much already. "You are my apprentice. You're safe with me. I promise."

Lee just looked at her, wary green eyes enough to break her heart.

He wants to believe me. But he should have been safe with his sister, too.

"Though I admit, it is interesting to know ingenuity runs in the family," Amaya said lightly. She spread out the scroll again. "Which of these should we try?"

"I appreciate the company, nephew," Iroh said warmly, folding his apron before bowing to his employer. Pao might be cranky and a bit cheap, but he'd defended a mere employee from Dai Li interest, and that was no small thing. "But a young man might like some time to himself in the evening, with so many lovely girls in the neighborhood-"

"Jet's around. Somewhere," Zuko said grimly.

"That insane boy?" the teashop owner bleated. "Again?"

"I lost him in the Middle Ring." Zuko shrugged. "Tried to talk him down, but I don't think he's listening."

"He'll listen to the clink of handcuffs, if I see him!" Pao fumed. "Reckless, destructive… cost good money to replace that table, and the door-!"

"You're very thoughtful. Good night!" Iroh said cheerfully. And ushered Zuko out the door before the man could remember the other half of that destruction.

Yes, it is a very good thing Zuko is not working here.

Though perhaps a shame, in a way. There were quite a few pretty girls his nephew's age who stopped in for afternoon tea.

Ah well. His nephew's nerves were stretched taut as it was. Perhaps this was not the best time to try to prod Zuko toward anything as normal as a date.

Wait a few weeks, Iroh decided. Let him grow accustomed to the city, and its people. Tread gently. At least until we've dealt with this Jet boy, one way or another.

Oh Agni, he could all too easily see how that could become a disaster. A vindictive teenager, a young lady who might know no better than to dodge into a blade's path, and his overprotective nephew - well.

No. Better not to shove Zuko into that aspect of normal life. Not yet.

"So how was your day?" Iroh asked as they headed home. Though part of it was written on his nephew's face. Even another duel with Jet should not have left his nephew so worn.

Surprisingly, Zuko gave him a smile. "Master Amaya and I are working on a water wall."

"Truly?" Iroh raised an intrigued brow. "I had thought the Northern waterbenders did not teach women skills beyond healing." Unlike the Southern Water Tribe. Now, those folk knew how to fight.

I wish I could have done more to save them.

Yet he'd still been loyal to Azulon then, and fighting generals of the Earth Kingdom. The South Pole raids were not in his theater of operations. Once he'd learned of the White Lotus, and its goals, he had been able to arrange for contacts to spirit a few of the survivors from prison. So long as it was made clear their efforts in the war were over.

A few. Painfully few.

You did what you could, and what was wise for your people, Iroh told himself. If Lu Ten had not died-

No. Better not to torment himself with such thoughts.

"They don't," Zuko was saying, "but she's figured out a few things. And I've seen some of the moves on the scroll in action. So we're working on it. It's not real impressive yet."

"What scroll?" Iroh asked, curious.

"Tell you when we get to the apartment." Zuko glanced warily around at the street crowds. "It's been an… interesting day."

Oh dear.

Some time later, Iroh eyed his nephew over what was supposed to be a cup of soothing tea. Not that he could blame the blend for failing. It obviously had not been created with his nephew's gift for havoc in mind. "An interesting day."

Having just recounted a tale of bears, Dai Li, vengeful teens, and confused young firebenders, Zuko shrugged.

"Stay wary with the Dai Li," Iroh advised. "Your caution is an ally and a shield. They will expect a refugee to be more nervous than one born here, and more prepared to hear the worst of the rumors about their actions. If Shirong is clever enough to approach you with care, he is unlikely to change his tactics swiftly."

"But why do they want a waterbender at all?" Zuko said warily.

"If you felt you could trust a waterbender, one born in the Fire Nation, would you not wish them among your forces?" Iroh gave him a pointed look.

"Oh." Zuko winced. "I should have thought of that. It's just, most people in the Fire Nation…."

By which you mean my brother, Iroh thought sadly. Reconsidered. And the Fire Sages, and those generals not retired, dead, or fled, and the nobles… well, most is fair enough. "Experience, tactics, and logistics are crucial to winning battles," Iroh stated. "But when those factors are equal, it is the general who can make use of the unexpected who may win the day."

"Don't tell me Sokka's going to be a great general someday," Zuko grumbled.

Now there was a terrifying thought. "Not unless he learns to master his own resources, as well as the Avatar's," Iroh said dryly. "At the moment, most of his offensive capability could be neutralized by… oh, a pretty girl like Ty Lee walking up to the young airbender with an innocent smile."

"You really think he's naïve enough to fall for that?" Zuko said skeptically.

Uncle and nephew stared at each other, then nodded in unison.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Zuko lamented, hands spread to the skies.

"Perhaps because those trained in chi-blocking are not permitted to travel outside the Fire Nation?" Iroh suggested mildly. "We do not wish to risk other nations gaining the technique. Out of compassion for its users, if nothing else. I know what unscrupulous generals of the Earth Kingdom - Fong comes to mind - would be willing to do to gain such knowledge." Physical torture of chi-blockers would be the least of it. "And there is the difficulty of getting such an agent close enough to an airbender to begin with."

"Yeah, but if you could, he'd be toast," Zuko muttered. "Even if they missed enough that he could still move… without bending, he's just a skinny kid with a staff. He has no combat training. None of them do, master benders or not-" Zuko froze. And swore under his breath; something he had to have picked up from their crew. "Azula's got Ty Lee with her."

"You do not know that," Iroh cautioned.

"I know Azula." Zuko's eyes narrowed, grim. "She'd get away with it. They ran from her, Uncle. Why else would they let her chase them into making stupid mistakes? A tank's not a small target. They could have frozen it. Or swallowed it in rock. They didn't. They ran. They were afraid." His voice dropped. "There's only one thing that scares a bender that much."

"Amaya told me," Iroh said heavily. "I am sorry, nephew. I am so, so sorry I did not know…."

Zuko was smiling at him. Ruefully, but a smile. "It's not as bad as you think, Uncle. Ty Lee's loyal to Azula… but Azula always said it was training. So Ty Lee could help. Sometimes."

Iroh raised a skeptical brow.

"I learned how to dodge. Some of it, anyway." Still that wry, wistful smile. "If I don't see her coming, she can get my bending. But I can move fast enough that she doesn't put me all the way down. Most of the time."

"And so, the swords," Iroh realized.

Zuko nodded.

"Well done," Iroh said with quiet pride.

Tired as he was, Zuko still sat straighter.

"Though I am curious to know why you chose that path, rather than enlist aid," Iroh said, very carefully.

"Didn't want Azula to try smothering me in my sleep again," Zuko shrugged. "At least with Ty Lee doing it, I was pretty sure I'd still be breathing afterward."

The teacup shattered.

"…You're bleeding." Zuko pulled flame from the lamp, searing out pottery dust to leave whole skin behind.

Would that my heart healed as easily. "You told your parents of this?"

"Mom told her it was wrong." Zuko kept his voice quiet. Level. "So she went to Father, and told him what horrible lies I was telling to get her in trouble. He said that was unworthy of a great name's son. And he smiled at her." He looked aside, into memory. "She smiled just like that, at Grandfather's funeral." Zuko swallowed. "Can we not talk about her? She's not here, and Jet is, and arguing with him doesn't work. What do I do, tie him up and drop him down a well?"

"It is tempting," Iroh acknowledged, setting the anger aside. Time enough for fury later, when Zuko would be sure it was not aimed at him. "I can only say, do as you think best at the time." He smiled wryly. "And I am working in a teashop, nephew. Should he be so rude twice - I am certain, given your example, I can improvise."

Zuko nodded, reluctantly satisfied.

"Perhaps an early night would be wise, for both of us," Iroh reflected. "But I would like you to consider something, Prince Zuko."

"Uncle?" Zuko said warily.

"There is a certain freedom of action in being declared a traitor to the throne," Iroh said levelly. "My brother is not here. The laws of our nation do not rule here. Do what you believe is right." He paused. "And never forget that here, she is not a princess, whose every command must be carried out without fail. Nor are you an exile. She is an enemy of Ba Sing Se, and you are a healer, serving our people within these walls. Innocents she would see executed as traitors, simply for seeking sanctuary. If by some stroke of ill luck she chances on us again - strike her down."

"I'll…." Zuko swallowed dryly, and nodded. "I'll think about that, Uncle."

I pray you do, nephew. Watching Zuko disappear behind a closed screen, Iroh sighed. I never want her to hurt you again. I never want her to believe she has the right.

Ozai. If fate is kind, I will not meet you again. No matter what you have done, you are still my brother, and I would not force Zuko to choose between us. That wound, at least, I would spare him.

But if fate is not kind….

You have a very great deal to answer for.

"Kitty."

Zuko eyed the stuffed calico toy being thrust at him by grubby hands, and nodded. "Looks like a cat-owl to me. Now, just let me see-"

"My kitty!"

"Yes, it is." Zuko gripped the youngster's arm lightly, turning it to get a better look in the morning light. He wasn't sure if his patient was a boy or girl, and he didn't really want to ask. "Just let me see this scratch your mother says-"

"My kitty!"

He dodged the blow by instinct, soft cloth or not. Eyed the brat's mother. Who smiled at him, beaming at her little monster as the kid kept trying to thwack him. "Now, honey," she chirped, "let's not be too much trouble."

Now I know why Amaya was grumbling about shirshu darts. "Ma'am?" Zuko said politely. "Could you take the toy for a minute?" He could deal with a bear. He'd deal with this-

"Mine!" The toddler lunged, and Zuko barely fended off snapping teeth.

No more nice healer for you, brat.

"Well, I never!"

In the midst of taking down the exact improbable sequence of events that had led to a fisherman getting a hook somewhere very painful indeed, Amaya looked up as Madam Li stormed out from behind Lee's screen, biting brat in hand-

Biting, gagged brat in hand.

Giggling in the woman's face wasn't the most professional thing she'd ever done. But oh, it felt good.

Noon sun warmed him down to the bones as Zuko ran cold katas in Amaya's garden, warmth seeping in to replace what healing had drained.

Getting better at this.

Granted, nothing he'd done here was as serious as the wounds he'd healed outside of Ba Sing Se. But it was like any firebending. You had to build your strength gradually.

And you have to breathe.

He took time to do that now, trailing his fingers in the barrel of spring-water they'd set up last night. No need to upset the fish by raising the pond to steam-hot.

And I can't tell her I don't need to. Not yet.

The lie of omission twinged Zuko's conscience, but - he did want to learn how to move hot water by firebending. You never knew with spirits, after all. What if Yue changed her mind, and his waterbending vanished tomorrow?

Would be my luck. Can't count on anything.

Which seemed confused even in his own head. Not being a waterbender would make things easier. Wouldn't it?

Touching cool water, Zuko drew it up in a fluid arc. It's pretty.

Fire was, too, when you did it right. Though it'd taken him years to find any joy in fire again, after… after.

It was a tool. A weapon. I had it. I needed it. I trained it. But it didn't feel… warm. Not like Mom's fire did. It was just… barren. Empty. All sharp edges.

Like the stiff, brittle bush Ursa had rescued from the gardeners once; all thorns and no roses, until she'd planted it in a secluded wild nook, and nursed it into green life.

Those first small buds had smelled like magic.

A breath, and flame danced in his other hand. Zuko turned his palms sideways to face each other, flames and water twisting around each other like bright ribbons.

I think Mom would have liked this.

For once, he didn't shy away from the thought. If Ursa had been a healer, she'd probably been good with outside fire, too. And water was like that. Sort of.

A stab of pain. Water twisted too slowly, and everything scrambled together as steam.

Don't lose it! Just try.

A swirl of both hands, and a boiling sphere hovered between them.

Past the greenery, Zuko heard the screen slide back, and hastily dropped steaming water into the barrel.

"Having fun?" Amaya smiled at him, walking over to gaze into the pond. "Break's almost over."

"How did you- oh." I can feel fire when it's close. "You can feel water moving that far away?"

"Your range improves with experience," Amaya nodded. "It helps that I live here. I know where all the water is supposed to be. You could probably do the same with fire, when you've stayed here a few more months." Still smiling, she waved her hand through fading wisps of steam, gathering it into water around her fingertips.

And looked suddenly thoughtful.

Not good. Whatever it is. "So did you still want me to stand the watch here tonight?" Zuko got out, trying to sound sheepish. "I'm sorry about the gag, it just seemed like a good idea…."

"Oh, I've threatened her with as much before," Amaya said wryly, letting water slide off her fingers. "Now, perhaps, she'll believe me. Hurt children are upset. That's acceptable. Biting is not." She glanced at him. "Besides. I'm curious to find out what your uncle considers a good evening of tea and conversation."

"Music and food," Zuko said ruefully. "Don't let him talk you into playing a tsungi horn."

Amaya snorted. "Not that I even know what a tsungi horn is…."

Oops.

"And on that note - standing watch is something you don't usually hear off the docks in this city. Most would say, hold down the fort."

"Oh." Damn.

"Hmm." But curious as she looked, Amaya didn't press farther. "Good luck with Jinhai."

"Thanks," Zuko said warily. After yesterday, I'm going to need it.

"He gagged the boy?" Mushi clapped a hand to his forehead in disbelief.

Toying with the last of her dessert, Amaya couldn't help but snicker. "He's a very direct young man, your Lee."

"He may never believe this, but that does run in the family," her dinner companion smiled back. "A few more years will calm him down. If we can keep him alive that long."

Assuming I'll help, are you? Not that it was far off the mark. She liked the man's nephew; prickly temper, awkwardness, and all. Even if she hadn't liked him, Lee seemed to be a genuinely good young man. If a little confused about people who weren't out to harm him. She'd feel very small if she didn't help just because he was a firebender. "You always expect trouble, don't you? Both of you. Lee's just more obvious about it."

"Our lives have rarely been quiet," Mushi allowed. "I find working in a teashop very relaxing. And your work? It cannot be easy, taking in an apprentice after years alone. I know my nephew is not always the most patient of students."

"You might be surprised," Amaya mused, setting her chopsticks aside. "He isn't calm, but he is determined. He behaves very well, most of the time. And he's been responsible about getting out of sight if he does need to swear and hit the ground." She regarded Mushi thoughtfully. "How much was his mother able to teach him, before she…." Spirits, what did she say?

"Vanished," Mushi said firmly. "Fled, I hope. Thought I fear- well. I do not know." A quiet shrug. "Nor do I know what she was able to teach him, while his bending was still uncertain. He knew how to soothe pain, at least. And when I showed him what I knew of her kata, he was able to take it that step beyond, and truly heal."

"Tide-touched," Amaya said thoughtfully. "Or… well, I suppose you'd call it something else." How to define it? "Huojin and other swordsmen call recruits like that, a natural?"

"Someone who has the proper instincts, which training will hone," Mushi nodded. "I had not heard of this in bending. I have known prodigies, who take to training very quickly - but that is not the same."

"I'd be surprised if you had known of them," Amaya admitted. "It's not common even in my tribe, where children are often granted freedom to play with water in the moonlight for a year before formal instruction begins. Master Pakku learned that way, I heard. And I imagine hardly anyone in the Earth Kingdom learns from the badger-moles anymore." Amaya glanced around the rest of the dinner crowd enjoying sidewalk tables in the lantern-light. Clear. Good. "A bender who learns from the original source always seems to have a more intuitive grasp than those just taught by humans."

Mushi considered that, and nodded thoughtfully. "Then it would seem that even as an adult, this may be true."

Amaya lifted a brow, intrigued. We were taught by the Moon and Ocean. Who were you taught by?

"Though I do not know any way my nephew could have-" Mushi cut himself off, looking very thoughtful.

Amaya leaned back in her chair. "You know, when Lee looks like that, it means he was right about something all along, and he'd really hoped he wasn't."

"It is a very long story…." His glance touched the crowd, and green eyes narrowed. "And best saved for another time. Good evening, Smellerbee. Longshot. Where is your friend Jet?"

"Fixing his harness," the feral young girl said sourly, as the silent archer behind her shrugged. "Lee tore it up pretty good with that waterbending trick."

"Ah." Mushi regarded them levelly. "You will, perhaps, understand if I hope that takes him some time."

"Okay, so maybe Jet took it too far going after you," Smellerbee said defensively. "Lee didn't have to attack him!"

"I'm sure he didn't-" Amaya began.

"I am certain he did," Mushi said dryly. "Strike the first blow, at least. But in this city, where the war is not mentioned, by claiming us as Fire Nation, it is Jet who attacked." He eyed both children sternly. "Do you wish us to vanish, never to be seen alive again, simply because your friend somehow believes we might be of those who have wronged him?"

Longshot frowned.

"Jet doesn't go after people without a good reason," Smellerbee protested.

"He'd better not go after anyone near my clinic, or he'll see what I know of waterbending," Amaya said angrily. "Don't you understand what your friend is doing? Every time he levels this charge, he holds a knife to Lee's throat!"

"It's not-" Smellerbee started.

"It is exactly that!" Amaya slapped her hand down on the table. "Ba Sing Se took you in. Gave you sanctuary. How dare you threaten that for others?" She shook her head. "Lee is my apprentice, and Mushi is my friend. You send Jet to me. I am Amaya of the Northern Water Tribe, and we've survived enough raids to know them when we see them!"

Longshot raised an eyebrow. Touched Smellerbee's shoulder, and gave her a serious look.

"You're right," the girl said after a moment. "We should go check on him."

That quickly, they were gone. To her eyes, at least. From Mushi's sober frown, he could see them ghosting through the crowd.

"Perhaps we should make an early night of it," Amaya said quietly. And smiled. "It was a good evening, with good company."

"I am glad." Mushi inclined his head, then rose to escort her back. "I have not had the chance to enjoy such an outing with a lovely lady for some time. You will, perhaps, permit me to hope that if this boy is reined in, you might consider it again sometime?"

"It's possible," Amaya allowed, walking beside him. Pale, perhaps, and devious enough to make her think twice whenever that gleam came into his eye - but he wasn't afraid of her.

He's touched the Spirit World, too.

As had Lee. Prickly and impulsive and wary as a feral pygmy puma, yes. But the boy was comfortable to be around.

She'd missed that. For a very long time.

The walk home was uneventful, thankfully. Reaching her front door, habit made Amaya reach out with waterbending, sensing well and spring and pond-

What in the world?

Oh. Of course. Dropping Mushi a wink, she lowered her voice to a whisper. "Has Lee shown you what he's been up to?"

"We have not had much time," Mushi murmured back, obviously intrigued. "We should enter quietly, then?"

Eyes dancing, Amaya snuck into her own house.

Mushi helped her muffle the screens to the garden, and slipped out onto the path with a silence she'd never expected of him. Step by careful step, they advanced toward the whisper of moving water, and quiet crackle of flames.

It's like the Firelight Fountain, made small.

Frozen into ice, a candle floated on the barrel's surface, flames split into three flickering ribbons by Lee's swift-moving fingers. The young man's face was pale with concentration, as he beckoned a stream of water up to weave snakelike around every strand, inhaled-

And blew a white puff of frost, water crackling into glittering ice.

…What?

Beside her, the man who'd faced down guards, bandits, and invading admirals to get here, who'd kept his nephew alive through fire and grief and panic, who'd stood his ground in the face of the unmistakable influence of Tui and La themselves-

Hit the ground in a dead faint.

The world came back in a murmur of voices, and a soft glow of healing blue.

"Uncle? Uncle, don't do this-"

"Nephew." Iroh latched onto Zuko's hand with a sigh of relief, glad for Amaya's support at his side. "I was having the oddest nightmare…."

Eyes open, he looked past the boy, to a candle floating upright, wreathed by ice.

Not a nightmare. Iroh took a steadying breath. Two. "How…?"

"I don't know. I don't know! She drowned me, and you got me back, and the teashop, and something just kept pushing and pulling at me, so I went to the roof for some air, and-" Zuko waved a hand, and water rippled in echo of it. "I'm sorry, I know you had plans, and now she's the heir, and there's nothing I can do…." He winced, and rubbed his temples.

Letting go of Iroh, Amaya crossed over to her apprentice. "Headache?"

"Don't worry about it-"

"You let me decide what I'll worry about." She rested water-wrapped hands on his head, eyes half-closed. "Your uncle told me before that she was considered the heir. Why do both of you look as if someone just died?"

"Several of my plans just did," Iroh admitted. Zuko was young, not foolish. He knew enough to guess the truth. "She was the heir, yes. But we had some hopes…."

"I'm sorry." Zuko looked - small. Exhausted. Beaten. "I know what this means for our people, Uncle. I just… why do they have to hate us so much? So many of our people are going to die, and I don't care if the spirits think it's balance! It's wrong!"

Oh Agni, Iroh could see it. Azula as the heir, or no one; either path would lead his people into bloodshed, savagery, and civil war. And after a century of violence - to think the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes would be content to simply sit back and watch, was to be ignorant of the hatred nurtured in human hearts.

Even the Avatar's? "Spirits' gifts are often difficult to understand," Iroh said soberly. "I would not be so swift to assume Yue acted out of hatred."

"I hate to say this of a woman of my tribe, Mushi - but I wouldn't be so quick to say she didn't." Amaya took her hands away, blue eyes narrowed. "Does it always hurt when you waterbend?"

Zuko shook his head. "Just when I try to do them both together. Two different kinds of energy."

"It's not. Or it shouldn't be." She rested a hand on his forehead. "Let me look again."

Long moments passed. Iroh sat still on the path, gathering his scattered wits. Zuko… was a waterbender. Spirits, no wonder his nephew was confused.

But he has not lashed out. He has not panicked. He has tried, as much as he can, to face it. To master it.

My beloved nephew. I would claim you as my own in a heartbeat, if you would but allow it.

"Well." Amaya's breath was almost a snarl, as she lifted her hand away. "That is a nasty piece of work, indeed." She glanced between them. "Both of you, brace yourselves. This may be hard to hear."

Iroh held out an arm, comforted when Zuko leaned into it, resting against his side.

"Spirits are energy, that can sometimes take a physical form," Amaya began. "Living beings are energy in a physical form. What works for one, sometimes doesn't work for the other. That's why malevolent spirits can often be harmed by salt, when to us it just stings in cuts. Our physical body protects us from what salt does to them." She looked at Zuko. "The fire-blow you took seared you down to your spirit. It left a hole in you. A scarred hole, where some of your own energy should have been. An… empty place, Yue could fill with water." Amaya winced. "But to do that - she ripped out the scar."

Zuko shivered against him. Iroh couldn't blame the boy. "And this means?"

"She may not have intended any harm," Amaya said grimly. "For a spirit, I think this might be like - oh, eating when you're starving, and letting the food build your muscles back up. But humans aren't that simple. Tear our scars, and you can't just slap new flesh into place. Lee is bleeding, whenever he uses both together. It flexes the heart of who he is, and the scar gapes." She shook her head. "No wonder you're always exhausted."

Iroh held his nephew close. "Can you heal this?"

"That depends on what you mean by heal." Amaya regarded Zuko soberly. "Lee… no. If I do this, I'll need to touch you more deeply than ordinary healing reaches. I promised I wouldn't ask. But for this, I need your name."

"Zuko." His nephew swallowed dryly. "My name is Zuko. Son of Ursa, and-" He closed his mouth, and shook his head.

"That's enough," Amaya said kindly. "Zuko. I see three paths we can take. First - we could do nothing. I don't advise that, but it won't kill you. Immediately. You have a strong spirit. It's quite possible you could go on this way for years. But Huojin says you react in a fight, and if that's true with your bending as well-" Her grim look told its own story.

"A better option, if you would," Iroh said dryly.

"I could restore the scar." Amaya winced as she said it. "My teacher told me never to take with this gift. Only to give. But to save a life… I think he would understand."

"No more water," Zuko said numbly. "It'd make things - simpler."

"No," Iroh said softly, feeling his nephew tremble. "Oh, no. You have been well. You have been happy."

"I have a duty to our people, Uncle." Still numb. Still aching. "What I want doesn't matter."

"It does," Iroh said fiercely. "This time, it does! Think! You said this was Yue's answer to my question. I asked how to save our people, nephew! How to find a path that would hold those bound by love and loyalty together, no matter what nation their forebears came from." He gripped the boy's shoulder. "Think! How can the Avatar shatter us apart, when you stand whole before him?"

"But - if she's the heir-"

Iroh sighed, letting the last of a decade's plans float free as scattered dust. "The damage done has been too great," the retired general said soberly. "There are too many in power like Zhao, and too few like Jeong Jeong. Even if the Avatar himself tried to enforce a peace, firebending has been twisted for far too long. There will be war. In a way, there must be war. Corruption festers throughout our nation, and it must be burned clean." Iroh rested a hand on dark hair. "Enough, nephew. We have both suffered enough. Choose your own destiny."

Zuko looked at him, and nodded. Turned to Amaya. "You said there was another way?"

"My teacher taught me to touch the flesh along with the spirit," Amaya said plainly. "I think I can fix what Yue intended to do. But are you sure? This will be the most delicate work I've ever done. If you fight me, if you fight at all - I can't imagine the harm I might do. Please. Be sure."

Zuko bent his head, fingers clenching and unclenching. "When I knew I was waterbending," he said, almost soundlessly, "when I realized what that meant… I promised myself I'd learn what you did. How to hide our people, and keep them safe. I've fought the spirits my whole life. I'm not letting our people die just because I wasn't brave enough to ask you before."

Just for our people? Iroh thought sadly. Oh, Zuko.

"And - I want it back." Zuko swallowed dryly. "I've been angry with Uncle for years, angry with the whole world, and it's wrong. I wasn't like that before he-" Fingers strayed near the scar; lowered, and clenched. "He took part of me away, and I want it back."

"I can't turn back time," Amaya said gently. "You were wounded. Scarred. I can't change that. This will be water, and it will help you - but it will never be what you were before the fire. It can only be what you are, and what you will be. Is that enough?"

Zuko met her gaze, fiercely determined. "I'll make it enough."

Amaya inclined her head, and opened her arms. "Come here. And trust me." She raised her gaze to Iroh's. "This is going to be delicate. Guard us. Do whatever you have to."

Brows bouncing up in surprise, Iroh nodded. Stood, brushed himself off, and assumed a ready stance.

One hand on Zuko's brow, the other over his heart. Amaya breathed in, and out. And there was light.

Everything was light, and he couldn't seem to close his eyes; it was too bright, he couldn't bear it-

Shh. Trust me, Zuko.

"Amaya?" Why was Amaya inside his head? He could feel her worry, her concern. Her determination to make things right, fierce as fire….

Separation is an illusion. We are all a part of each other. A gentle chuckle. It's just more obvious, spirit to spirit.

"That's why this is dangerous," Zuko whispered. Or thought he did; nothing felt the way it should, and where had the garden gone? "You're touching my spirit? You shouldn't, you don't want to see-"

We are all capable of great good, and great evil. I have my own darkness. And you are not as lost as you think. A shimmer of light, like an outstretched hand. Trust me. Help me help you. We can do this, together.

Tentatively, he reached out….

And saw the gash between golden red and moon-blue, seeping away strength as he breathed. So close to right. Just a little off. All he had to do was touch.

Gently. We have time.

Fire and water were opposites, but they weren't separate. Fire burned, yielding water disguised in hot smoke. Water held inside it the seeds of fire, just waiting for lightning's strike.

Touch. Hold. Melt. Two into one, in a dance that was so familiar….

Just like that. Fire and Water, and Spirit to bind them both.

Spirit? Those pale, not quite colorless wisps reaching out to red and blue, making them whole?

You are my apprentice. What was taught to me, I now teach you. Use it wisely.

He thought he nodded. Everything felt right. Just tired.

Hang on one moment more… look. Over there.

Another light, apart from them both. Blazing, fierce fire, protecting what it-

Zuko's breath caught. "Uncle… loves me?"

Of course he does, you silly little dragon. You are lovable, once we get past all the prickles. A glittering chuckle. Get used to it.

Rest now. You're going to need your strength in the morning. I have a whole new set of lessons for you… waterbender.

Sleep closed over him like a blanket.

"I'm tempted to have you rent out the cot," Amaya said dryly, helping Iroh tuck Zuko back into bed.

"I am tempted to accept," Iroh chuckled, brushing back unruly black hair. "He will be well?"

"I'll have to see how he handles bending both in the morning, but yes, I think so." Blue glanced at him, amused. "You sense spirits. What do you see?"

"Two dragons, no longer wounded," Iroh said softly. A lift of his fingers, and he brushed misty scales; first red, then moon-white. The white was almost the size of its brother, now, and gold eyes regarded him with surprised joy. "Rest now," he wished them both. "I am very, very proud of you."

"Dragons," Amaya breathed, as spirits faded. "You think Zuko learned from dragons."

"No," Iroh said thoughtfully, stepping back from Zuko's cot. "I know he learned from his mother. Who, I believe, may be a dragon's child."

A long silence.

"Walk with me," Amaya requested.

They sat in the opening leading to the garden, Amaya eyeing the thickening moon.

"You seem to believe me," Iroh observed.

"If you were going to lie to me, I think you'd do it with something a little less impossible," the healer said tartly. "Though I admit, I'm trying not to imagine how that works."

Iroh chuckled ruefully. "From our tales, the dragon takes human form. For a night, a year and a day, or a lifetime. They are not ordinary creatures," he added at her look of shock. "They love, and they hate, just as we. And like us, they can be capable of great evil. As Sozin's dragon companion was, hunting down his own kin who would not bow in the wake of the massacre…." He sighed. "I am not certain. There are only - little things. About Zuko, and Lady Ursa, and her parents, Shidan and Lady Kotone. Separate, they mean nothing. Together…." He shrugged.

"I see one already," Amaya said thoughtfully. "In a nation obsessed with power, how does a man not noble rate a lady's hand?"

"By being a powerful firebender, who is also most adept with daisho," Iroh said practically. "Her father approved the match the day he appeared."

"Appeared," Amaya echoed quietly.

"Indeed. True, Shidan brought a genealogy to the match. Which tales say most dragons do not," Iroh admitted. "Though given the order to hunt them had already been issued…." He shrugged again. "Questionable, but not proof. Nor are the swords. Though most firebenders of any skill simply do not bother to master other weapons. My nephew is a rare exception." He hesitated. "And the healing fire… it is the colors of dragons' fire. When they breathe to teach, and not to slay."

Amaya leaned against the frame, considering that. "I was going to ask why you took Zuko's waterbending so calmly-"

"You consider a faint calm?" Iroh murmured, embarrassed.

"You didn't scream at him. You didn't even singe him," Amaya pointed out. "I can only imagine what Master Pakku would have done if one of his students had suddenly thrown sparks. It wouldn't have been pretty."

No, likely not. A member of the White Lotus Pakku might be, but open-minded? No.

"But you're used to the impossible," Amaya went on.

"I have seen the Avatar unleash the fury of Ocean himself," Iroh said gravely. "Many things may be unlikely. But I would hesitate to assume anything impossible." He smiled. "Besides. You did not know my nephew when he was young. He loves water almost as much as he loves wind. If any firebender could master water, it would be Zuko."

Amaya eyed him. "If your nephew hadn't made it clear you two have met the Avatar, and if I hadn't felt his spirit with my own bending… well."

"My nephew is not that unlucky," Iroh said wryly. "Though I plan to have words with the Moon, should we ever meet again."

"She may have done all she could," Amaya said reluctantly. "I was always told the spirits aren't there to solve our problems. They point the way. After that, it's up to us to step in and choose."

Iroh inclined his head, accepting that point. Though had we left here without discovering the injury… spirits are not always kind. The Avatar has returned; they must have a plan. So long as Zuko survived long enough to carry out their chosen part for him - I doubt some of them would have cared what became of him afterward.

"But this question you asked Yue… surely you don't mean for Zuko to fight the Avatar?"

"I do not," Iroh said plainly. Though he has. And that is the purpose of the White Lotus, if hope should fail and an Avatar become corrupt and cruel. "But to stand in the way of hasty judgments by a naïve young boy - yes, that Zuko will do. And I will stand with him."

"I don't understand," Amaya said warily.

Iroh nodded. "Do you wish to be forced back to the North Pole, Lady Amaya?"

"Forced back?" the healer exclaimed, disbelieving. "Who would-?" She read the answer in his level gaze, and recoiled. "He wouldn't!"

"Do we know?" Iroh said bluntly. "Does anyone? The Avatar's balance is meant to include four separate nations. Yet we have lived without that for a hundred years. What will he decide is right, for those like you, who choose another land as home? For families like Jinhai's, who are earth and fire? For untold numbers of people in the Fire Nation, whose parents and grandparents might have blood of earth, or water, or even remnants of air?" He spread empty hands. "I do not know. I cannot even begin to guess. And if I do not know, Zuko has every right to be afraid for our people."

"That certain of yourself, are you?" Amaya said dryly.

"Yes," Iroh said simply.

While she was still stunned, he marshaled his thoughts. "There is something else you must consider. Sooner or later, Jinhai must leave Ba Sing Se."

"This is his home-"

"He is a firebender." Iroh regarded her soberly. "Believe me when I say to you, a child cannot hide that forever, even with help. A month, a year - sooner or later, the Dai Li will come for him."

"But he can't leave," Amaya whispered. "There's nowhere else to go."

"Not yet," Iroh said practically. "My nephew and I plan to create one."

She stared at him, speechless.

"It is not impossible," Iroh said frankly. "Zuko and I know what is required to create, fortify, and defend a colony. And how to evacuate civilians, even under difficult conditions. I should like a few more months to develop it, but we have already begun to craft a plan that should work. If our people decide they wish to leave."

She was still staring.

Iroh lifted a hand to reach out to her, and reluctantly thought better of it. "I know this must seem abrupt-"

"Abrupt?" Amaya finally burst out. "Zuko says he wants to learn how to protect refugees, to hide them - and now you say you've been planning all along to toss that away?"

"A plan we hope we will never have to use," Iroh insisted. "Zuko does wish to learn from you. Even if we evacuate, we may still need to hide what we are. And as for plans - we are great names, Lady Amaya. We protect our people. From the moment we knew what the Dai Li were, we knew we would need strategies to use against them."

"And letting them try to recruit Zuko is part of your strategy?" Blue eyes flashed at him, anger rising.

"A wise strategist makes use of the unexpected," Iroh said practically. "My nephew knows the risks. He will be cautious."

"He's sixteen!"

"Seventeen, in a few months," Iroh pointed out. "Amaya. He was banished at thirteen. Saw his first lethal battle a year later. And has fought alongside me throughout our journey, most recently against bandits who very much wished us dead. He is not a child."

"But you're asking him for the impossible," Amaya protested.

"No. His father asked the impossible," Iroh said grimly. "I only ask for the difficult. And I will not abandon him, lost and afraid, with no idea where to even start." He leaned back, deliberately lightening his tone. "I think you underestimate your apprentice. You assume that I proposed this plan."

About to speak, Amaya cut herself off. Narrowed her eyes at him. Shook her head, and glanced behind them into the shadows of the clinic.

"It is a very hopeful sign," Iroh said quietly. "To even consider this, instead of what I know his father wishes… that loyalty is weakening. A few months, perhaps a year - he will survive, Amaya. I know it."

"You," Amaya said, after long minutes of thoughtful silence, "are absolutely insane."

Which was exactly what his then not-yet-fiancée Natsu had said, many decades ago. Obviously, the night was looking up.

Catching the warmth of his smile, Amaya scowled. "That was not a compliment."

"No?" Iroh did his best to look surprised. And innocent. And cuddly.

"Don't even think about it." Still scowling, she stood, and hmphed. "Stay with Zuko, or go home. Your choice."

"Most generous of you." Iroh stood as well, and bowed. "I wish you a very good night." Turning, he executed a polite strategic withdrawal.

And grinned all the way to bed.

He still missed Natsu. He always would. Though not as sharply as he missed Lu Ten. Natsu had been gone near two decades, now; his son's grief was fresher, and sharpened by being, in part, his responsibility.

But raising Zuko had helped soften that pain. Quarrelsome, impatient, often reckless and sometimes foolish - Zuko still loved him, mending the heart Iroh had thought forever broken by Ba Sing Se.

My second son.

He had decided long ago he would not repeat his father's mistakes. He would love this unlooked-for child, and teach him honor, loyalty, and justice. As Zuko had taught him of the wonder that could be hidden under a mask of rage, and resilience in the face of overwhelming odds.

Still. All battles are easier with allies… and friends.

He would like to be Amaya's friend. He would like that very much. She was lovely and inventive and quietly, fiercely brave.

But she was also Zuko's teacher. And he would not interfere with his nephew's training.

Be patient. Wait. You have made your interest clear; let her choose what she will and will not risk. There is time.

Clearing his mind of hopes and nightmares, Iroh meditated to his nephew's breathing. And deliberately fell asleep.