Zuko sat around the campfire with everyone else, feeling fit in for once. He made tea, cracked a really stupid joke that only Ayame laughed at until she cried. 

"Leaf me alone, I am bushed."

"That was so stupid, Zuko," she clutched her stomach. "I knew I couldn't expect much from your sense of humor. It totally matches your aura," she giggled. She was wearing the bracelet he had bought her when they'd gone to the market after they'd met Hama. The Fire Nation bracelet. He smiled on the inside.

Om the outisde, Zuko scowled at her, and everyone laughed. And then Sokka pulled Zuko aside.

"I have a question," he said. 

"What?"

"Where are prisoners taken? If they were captured, let's say, where would the prison be? And what would it be called?"

"Why?"

"Just saying."

"Well," Zuko thought, "There is a prison called the Boiling Rock. The worst prisoners go there. It's literally a rock surrounded by boiling water," Zuko informed him. "It's a prison with the highest security in the Fire Nation."

"Where is it?"

"Why? You're not planning to go there, are you?"

"Nope," Sokka shook his head and waved his arms around. "No way. Just asking."

"It's better if you don't know."

"I have to know, okay? I have to."

"Fine. It's between here and the Fire Nation in the middle of a volcano," Zuko said. "Tell me you're not planning anything."

Sokka shrugged. "I just wanted to know where my friends would be. I got them stuck there in the first place."

Zuko watched him walk back to camp, and then caught Ayame's eye. She was smirking at him, as if she'd been let on a secret. Zuko pursed his lips and shot her a look that said, Don't you dare try anything.

She gave him the same look she'd given him the day she'd left. Zuko rolled his eyes, and she blew him a kiss.

"Ugh,"  he said, but he was smiling when he turned his face.

♋♋♋

Zuko laid on Appa the entire night, waiting. Finally, he heard the sound of footsteps and someone climbing over the side of Appa. As soon as Sokka saw him, he yelped, falling backwards and onto his back. Zuko peere over the edge.

"You weren't going anywhere, huh?" Zuko grinned slyly.

"Uh, I wasn't. Going anywhere, I mean," Sokka said, but Zuko raised his eyebrows in a My jokes maybe stupid but I'm not way. "Okay, fine. Look. It's my Dad. I need to know what I put him through. It was my fault, because," Sokka added, "I came up with the infiltration plan. And I'm betting that's where my father is being kept. Are you happy now?" Sokka asked, scowling and fixing his ruffled clothing.

"I'm never happy." Zuko crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm going. No matter what you say. I have to get my Dad out of there. I have to regain my honor."

The words slammed into Zuko's chest. "Believe me, I know what you mean. I'm going with you."

"No. I have to do this on my own."

"Yeah? And are you going to leave Appa at a bison daycare while you're at it?" Zuko said humorlessly. "We'll do better on the war balloon I stole to escape the day you broke in."

They loaded up the war ballon, and as soon as it set sail, Sokka slumped against the edge. "We'll be back before they know it."

"What did you write in the note?" Zuko asked.

"We're fishing," Sokka said a matter-of-factly. "And I also wrote what you told me to write; Aang's homework to practice firebending."

"Good."

Sokka started whistling to break the ice. "What?" Zuko asked, annoyed.

"Nothing." Sokka said, the words rolling off his shoulders. They sat awkwardly. Finally, Sokka said, "I used to have a friend that made these balloons."

"Huh, really?" Zuko tried to act interested. His act was failing.

"Yeah. Balloons. Meant for war."

"My father's only good at war," Zuko scoffed out of nowhere. "He has nothing else to do in life."

"Must run in the family," Sokka joked, but Zuko didn't take it as one. 

"Hey! My whole family isn't like that."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You're good now."

"I was talking about my Uncle. He was more fatherly to me than my own father. Who turned out not to be my father, anyway," Zuko mumbled.

"I know what you mean," Sokka said, completely ignoring the last part of Zuko's sentence. Had Ayame told him? "It must've been really hard for you leave, right?"

"Not that hard," Zuko shrugged it off. 

"Really? You didn't leave behind anyone you cared about?" 

"My Uncle," Zuko said.

"Didn't you have a girlfriend?"

"Mai." The word popped out of his mouth and he wished he could grab it out of the air and stuff in back in. 

"That gloomy girl who sighs a lot?" Sokka grinned.

"Yeah." Zuko couldn't help but smile at the way Sokka described her. "But I'm kinda over her now. How about you?"

"My first girlfriend tuned into the moon."

"That's rough, buddy."

"Oh, yeah. Not as hard as leaving someone behind, though."

"Hey," he shrugged again, "It's because of your sister."

"Right. My sister," Sokka narrowed his eyes. "About that. It's time to have a little talk—"

"Are you freaking serious?" a voice shrieked. Zuko and Sokka's heads whipped around to see a raging, red in the face Ayame standing in front of them. Turns out, she'd been hiding behind the engine the entire time. "Mai?" she was angry. Zuko wanted to hide behind Sokka. Even he would not be able to cool her down after this.

"Hey!" Zuko said, trying to stand tall. "You aren't supposed to be here!"

"Oh, really? So you can talk to Sokka about all your ex-girlfriends that you're 'kinda' over?" she fumed.

"Mei—"

"Oh, no, no, don't even try that on me," she shook her index finger, one hand place on her hip. The pitch of her voice was getting higher and higher as if it were easily walking up stairs. "You said you'd take me on the next trip if there was ever one, and here I am." She gestured towards the entire air balloon, spreading out her hands. "And boy am I glad I came!" her hair whipped her face dangerously as the balloon cut through the wind. Her clothes rippled. She looked dangerous. Zuko glanced at Sokka who was busy enjoying the show, stifling his laughter. "Just because," her voice reached the highest it could go, "Just because I don't say anything doesn't mean you can go backstab me and talk about your ex-girlfriends as if you still like them." she inched up to his face, standing on her tiptoes. Zuko fought back a smile. He never realized how small she was until now. Even on her toes, the top of her head reached just right above his nose. She tried to be intimidating, but she had no clue she looked adorable to Zuko—even though he would never admit to using that word. "Well?" she prodded.

"Huh?" Zuko asked, snapping out of his train of thought.

"Do you still like them?"

"What? Her, you mean. I've only had one—I mean," he leaned against the edge of the basket, gripping the sides. He was going to topple over if she got any closer. "No, of course not."

"Funny," she scowled, plopping down next to Sokka. She pouted, not looking at his face. "That's exactly what you said the day you ditched me in front of Mai, after you said all those sweet things to me." She could've just slapped him instead.

"Ooh," Sokka whispered, "Burn." But one look from Ayame silenced him for the whole trip.

Zuko grabbed Mei around the waist, pulling her towards him.

"Let go of me," she growled, but he started to pepper her face with tiny kisses. "Zuko," she scolded, blushing, but he didn't let go, keeping her pressed to him.

"Ew," Sokka turned he back to them.

"Look, we're here!" Zuko said, pointing with one free arm. Ayame still pouted, but there was no way he was letting go of her.

Unless the hot air balloon was starting to deflate, which was when he did let go of her.

Zuko punched fire into the engine, trying to get a hold of the balloon as they went down. Unfortunately, the air was as hot on the outside as it was on the inside and the balloon started to crash, falling deeper and deeper towards the boiling water below. Zuko could feel the heat against his body. "Ayame, can you please give me a hand?"

"Oh, you mean Mai? Why don't you shout for her? Maybe you're hiding her somewhere, too, right?" She wouldn't budge, sitting bitterly. The metal basket skimmed the water and finally landed, splashes of water as hot as lava spraying everywhere. Ayame bended the water away from her face, but she didn't bother to help Zuko or Sokka as they both burned their fingers. Sokka clamped his hands over both of their mouths before they yelled, and then the balloon tumbled over and all three of them were launched out.

"Thanks for helping," Sokka shot as he brushed dirt out of his clothes and mouth. "Now there's no way back."

"You're the one who decided to come here," Ayame said, getting to her feet. "And anyway, I could part the water easily going back."

"No, you can't," Zuko scowled. "It's too dangerous. If we even get splashed, our skin will melt right off. And anyway, it's way too deep to part and walk across. Also, the water is too hot to freeze quickly. By the time you've formed a bridge, it would've already melted. By the time you'd frozen the entire place, we'd be found. This place, like I said, is the most guarded prison in the entire Fire Nation. They know what they're doing."

Ayame looked away from him, sullenly. Zuko ran a hand through his hair, exasperated, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Whatever."

Sokka, meanwhile, pushed the wrecked balloon into the water. "It's broken, anyway. Let's go inside. We need to blend in."

Inside, Zuko tossed them uniforms. Ayame shut her eyes as they changed, and then they waited for her.

"Well?" she said as they stood there awkwardly. "Are you going to keep standing there? Turn around!" She muttered something under her breath that sounded a lot like 'sherberts', and then they walked into the hallway. They wore helmets to protect their faces from prying eyes. 

"Now, we need to find Dad," Sokka said. 

"Right. Your dad. Where do we start?" Ayame asked. Before he could reply, an alarm blared. Guards ran across the opposite hallway. 

"Hey, guards!" one of them yelled. "There's a scuffle in the courtyard." And they had no choice but to follow the group.

The one causing a ruckus was Chit Sang; a big burly guy who didn't mean any trouble. Zuko could tell, Ayame was tempting to go forward and help the guy as the guard pestering him whiplashed him with fire, but Zuko and Sokka gripped her arms from both sides. And then Chit Sang whipped around and bended the guard's own fire against him.

The guard smirked, shaking his head. "You know what that means. You bend, you go into the cooler." He turned, looking straight at Sokka. "Hey, you! Help me take him to the cooler."

"I'll meet you back here in an hour," Sokka whispered, and then he was running from them, escorting Chit Sang to the cooler—whatever it was. Zuko and Ayame glanced at each other, and then straight ahead. 

"Hey," a guard clapped Zuko on the back. "When's lunch for you?"

"Um, I'm new around here," Zuko said. Ayame's smile was clear under her helmet.

"Ah, you looked it. Follow me. You're probably having lunch now."

In the lunchroom, Ayame kept her distance from Zuko—for identity purposes or just plain anger purposes, he didn't know. 

"Hey, newbie!" a female guard called over. "The rule is 'keep your helmet on at all times', but you can take it off in the lunchroom, you know?"

Zuko approached their table, tray in hand. "Uh, yeah. But, you know, for safety purposes, one should keep it on. If attacked from above. You know." Ayame's snicker was clear over the chatter. Zuko sat at the table. 

"Is that newbie over there laughing at you?" one of the guys asked. 

He shrugged it off, only to regret it. They called Ayame over. 

"Ah, she's a girl," the woman said. 

"Ignore her," Zuko put up his hand, "I have a question."

"No, you can't date the female guards," the woman rolled her eyes, and the two guys laughed, one leaning as as if sharing a joke. 

"Trust me, you wouldn't want to anyway," he muttered, and the next thing he knew, a cup was thrown against his skull. The two others burst out laughing.

"Oh, no," Ayame put in, leaning in, "trust me. He'd love to date anyone that isn't his girlfriend. That's just the type of guy he is."

Zuko groaned. "No, that's not my question. You guys are veterans, right?" they nodded. "I want to know if any war prisoners are brought here. I know the highest baddies are brought here, but . . . war prisoners?"

They shook their heads. "Sorry. Not as far as we know."

He was dreading to tell Sokka.

Zuko found Sokka standing on the giant metal balcony outside. "Hello, fellow guard. How goes it?"

"Zuko?" Sokka whipped around. Zuko shushed him.

"I have some news," Zuko said, walking up to stand next to Sokka. "Your dad's not here."

"What?" Sokka said, his eyes widening. "No!" he slammed his fists against the wall. "No. Again, my plan has failed. We came here for nothing!"

"Uh . . . " Zuko rubbed his chin, "What would Uncle say?" He looked into the clouds, thinking. "Ah. Sometimes, clouds have two sides. A dark and a light. And a silver lining in between," he explained. "It's like a silver sandwich. When life seems hard, take a bite out of the silver sandwich."

Sokka's face suddenly brightened, and he rushed towards the edge. "Maybe we haven't failed after all!"

"That worked?" Zuko asked, a smile on his face. "I can't believe it. I didn't even know what I was saying," he said.

Sokka looked at him sideways. "No, what you said made no sense at all. But Suki's here!" he pointed.

At the same time, Ayame said from behind, "You are the worst advice giver on earth, Zuko. But I will always remember your feeble attempts because that's how good of a person I am."

"Please stop sneaking up on us like that," Sokka said, face bone-white. "You scared me."

"Sorry," she apologized. "Who's Suki?"

"Her." She followed his finger which pointed towards a sweet girl sitting glumly on a rock. Her hair was short and brown, but she was slender, and her lips were full, her blue eyes bright. Sokka had a good taste.

Sokka visited her cell while Zuko stood watch outside. Ayame was standing on the opposite side, where she was assigned, but she kept watch. Sokka talked to Suki inside . . . Or that's what Zuko hoped they were doing.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps. A guard approached him.

"Hey," she said. "I need to get in there."

"You can't," Zuko said hurriedly, panicking. 

"Why?"

"It's dark in there. She can sneak up behind you."

The guard scoffed. "Move aside." Zuko didn't know how to react. He grabbed her arm, twisted it behind her back while she yelled for backup. Ayame, taking the chance, rushed over. "Grab him! He's an imposter!"

She kneed Zuko in the stomach and he dropped like a two-ton ball. 

"I'm so sorry," she whispered in his ear as she lift him up, "I'm not that mad at you. I'm going to figure this out, okay?"

The guard pushed him towards a cell.

Zuko was trapped.

He waited in the cell for a long period of time, until the doors opened. A man walked in, one with the Fire Nation insignia attached to his forehead. He was the warden.

"Well, well," the warden smiled. "I never knew I'd find you here, Prince Zuko."

"You know who I am?" He cocked his head.

"How could I not? You're the one who broke my niece's heart." Zuko knew exactly who he was talking about.

"You're Mai's uncle?"

"Yes. And you are my special prisoner."