The evening of the siege's second day, Iroh, Zhao, and the soldiers all prepared to disembark into the glittering ice city. The old general pulled Kouji aside. "I want you to stay here, Kouji. It's safer."

"What!?" Kouji cried, barely managing to keep his voice down. Would Iroh abandon him too?

"We'll be back around dawn, probably. There's going to be some heavy fighting in the city, and I don't want you to get hurt," Iroh replied.

"General, I wasn't training with Yan to pass the time!" the boy tried desperately. He didn't want to be alone on this stupid ship — hell, he didn't want to be on the ship at all! He needed solid ground under his feet, even if that ground was ice.

"I know you weren't," he assured the boy. "And you've gotten very good, but the fact is that this is far over your head. You've gotten much better, but you're not ready yet for the type of heavy fighting you'd see if you came with us."

"But—" the boy began.

Iroh shook his head. "No buts. Stay here."

Kouji's silver eyes narrowed in hurt and anger, but he eventually nodded silently.

The old man smiled a little. "We'll probably be back around nightfall, if all goes well."

Another sullen nod, and now Kouji kept his eyes to the ground as his mind started to race. Iroh then went off to help finalize the plans for that day.

As soon as he was certain the old man was gone, Kouji slipped out of the room and padded for the landing craft. He had spent a miserable several days aboard the admiral's flagship. It was cold, it was metal, it was on water, and he hadn't been allowed to see Zuko before the prince had headed off the previous evening.

He tossed his bag of dirt from hand to hand as he eyed the boats, then found a spot that he could squeeze his small body into and not be found. Grinning, he proceeded to squeeze.

To say that Iroh was not pleased to find him there when they landed would be about as true as saying that Zuko had carefully and completely plotted every step of his own assault on the North Pole.

"I told you to stay behind."

"I had to get off that ship," Kouji said quietly. It was one truth, at least, though he would never tell the general why that was.

The old man frowned, then sighed. "Too late to send you back now."

This Kouji knew. "I'll do as you say," he said quickly. "I just had to get some solid ground under me." He scowled at the glacier. "Not that this counts," he muttered then.

Iroh nodded, still looking irritated. "Come on, then."

He was going to get a lecture after this, Kouji knew. So rather than smile at his victory — which would definitely make the lecture worse — the ten-year-old drew his coat tighter around his small body and followed the old man.

The two of them caught up with Zhao and the rest of his party, and Iroh said nothing about the boy's presence, even when asked.

Zhao, despite most indications, was not a fool. The boy could be punished for stowing away later. He had a victory to win. He got the entirety of the party mounted on Komodo rhinos as the full moon rose behind them; the boy rode with Iroh. They waited for a moment to sneak by while a trio of waterbenders threw a tank just in front of them, causing Kouji to bury his face in Iroh's cloak.

As the Admiral brushed some snow off his armour, he said, "We'll be following this map to a very special location." He raised a scroll in his right hand. "And when we get there… we're going fishing."

Iroh shot him a look, not liking this at all, but said nothing.

The admiral led them to a small door; they were forced to leave the rhinos outside. Once they got in, however, the men and Kouji stared in awe.

A beautiful oasis stood there, with grass and trees and very unseasonable warmth. In a pond, two fish circled each other as if they had nothing else to do. One was black, the other white; each had a diamond of the opposite colour on their head.

"Wow…" whispered Kouji, watching them.

And then Admiral Zhao grabbed the white fish and thrust it into a bag, and the moon turned as red as blood.

"I am… a legend now," said the admiral, holding the bag aloft as Kouji stared up at him in abject horror. "The Fire Nation will for generations tell stories about the great Zhao, who darkened the moon. They will call me Zhao the Conqueror… Zhao the Moon-Slayer… Zhao… the Invincible!"

Then, out of nowhere, a lemur jumped onto Zhao's head and started scratching and tugging at his sideburns.

"Get it off!" he yelled, squirming under the lemur's attack. "Get it off!"

His men rushed to help him, but the animal flew away… and alighted on the arm of the Avatar.

The Avatar was accompanied by the two Water Tribe siblings who'd been with him since his awakening weeks before, his bison, and another Water Tribe girl, one with pure white hair.

Zhao and his men moved into an attack formation; the Avatar and his friends did the same, and suddenly Kouji realised that Iroh had been right in ordering him to remain aboard the ship. He began to scramble out of range — and then Zhao spoke. "Don't bother." He raised the bag and his fist.

"Zhao, don't," the Avatar said, dropping his staff and holding up his hands in a gesture of warning.

"It's my destiny," the admiral said quietly. "Destroy the moon… and the Water Tribe."

"Destroying the moon won't hurt just the water tribe," the Avatar pointed out, just as quietly. "It will hurt everyone, including you. Without the moon, everything would fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash on the world!"

"He is right, Zhao," Iroh said, finally speaking up.

Zhao looked over at the portly old man. "General Iroh," he said, a scorn present to his voice that Kouji had never before heard. Quickly the boy bolted to the bridge Iroh stood upon. "Why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?"

"I'm no traitor, Zhao," the old man said, simply, pulling his hood off. "The Fire Nation needs the moon, too. We all depend on the balance." Now his tone changed, to righteous, purposeful fury. "Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash on you tenfold. Let it go, now!"

The two men stared at each other for a long, silent moment while the soldiers and children looked on. Then the Admiral relented. He knelt and dumped the white fish — the Moon Spirit, Kouji realised belatedly — back into the pool.

And then his eyes went wide with some unidentifiable emotion, and he attacked the spirit with a flash of fire so wild it almost caught Kouji and Iroh as well.

The moon vanished from the sky, as the witnesses looked on with horror.

Iroh made good on his threats, lashing out at Zhao and his soldiers. The violence was over in seconds — all four soldiers were unconscious on the ground, an Zhao had fled.

In the pond, the black fish circled the white fish's body.

The children ran forward, and Kouji did too, drawing dirt from his bag without thinking and using it to bind the unconscious firebenders to the grass; all of them stood around the pond as Iroh gently removed the Moon Spirit from the water.

"There's no hope now," said the white-haired girl. "It's over."

Then the Avatar's tattoos, eyes, and mouth began to glow.

"No. It's not over."

He waded into the pool. The dark-haired Water Tribe girl started to follow, but Iroh gestured for her to stand back. He stood in the centre of the black fish's circle, watching it watching him, and the fish's eyes and diamond — in fact, the whole pond — began to glow as well.

The Avatar was sucked down into the pond and an eerie blue light spread through the water out of the oasis, taking the shape of a giant koi fish, the still-glowing Avatar in the middle. The combined Spirit and Avatar raised its arms, and then moved forward, ignoring obstacles in its path.

Awe-struck and trembling, Kouji fell to his knees as he watched with wide grey eyes.

It went through the city, and out into the open ocean, destroying all invaders it came across.

Iroh turned away from the carnage, and laid the dead fish back into the pool.

"It's too late," the dark-haired girl said, sadly. "It's dead."

The old man stared at the body for a moment, then turned to the white-haired girl, his eyes widening. "You have been touched by the Moon Spirit. Some of its life is in you."

Kouji looked as well, and realised that where all had been shrouded in darkness, the girl's eyes still shone blue.

"Yes," she said softly. "You're right. It gave me life." She closed her eyes, then seemed to gather strength and opened them again. "Maybe I can give it back." She rose to her feet.

"No!" the boy sitting with her cried, rising as well and reaching for her hand. "You don't have to do that!"

"It's my duty, Sokka," she said.

"I won't let you! Your father told me to protect you!"

"I have to do this," she told him, not looking back. She pulled out of his grip and crossed to Iroh. She removed her gloves and laid her hands over the body of the Moon Spirit, which began to glow. Her blue eyes closed, the glow died down, and then she collapsed.

The boy — Sokka — caught her, crying out a denial. He rested a hand on her neck, searching for a pulse. "…She's gone," he said, then repeated, "She's gone," clinging tightly to her body.

Kouji's face was wet with tears as he looked on.

And then the girl's body faded from Sokka's arms, and the Moon Spirit began to glow once more.

Iroh dropped it back in the pond, and it began circling again. The pond began to glow, and a beautiful, ghostly afterimage of the young woman floated above it. "Goodbye, Sokka," she said, voice echoing slightly, floating over to him and resting one hand on his cheek. "I'll always be with you." She kissed him, then faded away again.

The moon reappeared in the sky.

They all remained frozen for a long moment, and then Kouji hesitantly spoke. "G-general," he said, his voice cracking slightly as it broke the still.

"We should go," the old man said, quietly, turning to the brother and sister left. There was a moment of silence as the three of them stared at one another, then the girl nodded.

"Go. We found Zuko on the tundra, he's tied up on Appa."

Iroh sighed a little, and approached the beast. "…He's not here."

"What!?" His face still wet with tears, Kouji pushed himself to his feet and ran up the animal's tail only to find broken ropes in the saddle. Wordlessly he held them up.

"…We'll find him," Iroh assured the boy, then turned back to the siblings, bowed, and led Kouji out of the oasis.

Neither Sokka nor his sister followed.

"Wh-what about Zhao's men?" Kouji asked the general, indicating the men still bound to the grass of the oasis.

"We leave them here. Sooner or later, they'll be found and properly arrested. I think we lost this one."

The boy nodded and looked back one last time. Bracing himself, he made a drawing motion, and the dirt that trapped the men flew back to his pouch. The water girl could bind them in ice instead.

The two siblings stared at him for a long moment. Iroh smiled a little, but didn't comment. "Come, Kouji."

"Yes, sir." Kouji followed the old man out of the oasis, startled by his lack of reaction.

…he knew.

He didn't say anything, however, and the two of them finally found Zuko standing on the railing of a bridge not far from the oasis, staring down into the canal.

"Zuko?" Iroh said softly.

The prince didn't turn to face them. "Zhao's dead," he said, flatly. "Drowned."

Without a word, Kouji came up behind the older boy and hugged him gently.

Zuko didn't hug back. He climbed down off the railing. "Let's leave. Now."

"I agree," the old man said, nodding.

"Fleet's gone, we'll have to build a raft."

"All right."

Wordlessly, Kouji followed uncle and nephew, looking up at the moon every few steps of the way and hoping they wouldn't notice him trembling.

The two princes hastily constructed a raft of debris and pushed out into the ocean.

"I'm surprised, Prince Zuko," Iroh said, after several long moments of drifting. "Surprised that you are not at this moment trying to capture the Avatar."

"…I'm tired," the prince said, a little hoarsely, staring at the ocean.

"Then you should rest," the old man said, putting a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "A man needs his rest."

Kouji watched the prince fall asleep. After several moments, the boy spoke. "How long have you known?"

"Since the first time we dealt with those pirates," Iroh replied, also watching Zuko sleep.

The boy twisted to look up at him, startled. "You never told anyone."

"There was no need to do so," he replied, smiling slightly.

Kouji hesitantly smiled back. Ichiro had been right. "Thank you," he said softly. "It's difficult enough to explain as it is."

"You're welcome," Iroh assured him.

"Does Prince Zuko know?"

"I don't think so."

"…should I tell him?" Kouji asked hesitantly.

"If you like. You don't have to if you don't want to."

"How do you think he'd take it?"

"I don't know," the old man admitted.

"…I think I'll wait," Kouji said after a moment. "My brother and sister are the only other ones who know."

Iroh nodded. "I'll keep your secret," he promised.

"Thank you, general," said the relieved child.

"You're welcome."

Kouji curled up around the mast of their small vessel then, and soon followed the prince into sleep.

---