A week or so later brought a further annoyance to the young prince — his party had no idea where the Avatar was.

"Clearly," he muttered, staring down at the map his uncle had given him, "he is a master of evasive manoeuvring."

"May I see?" Kouji asked abruptly.

Zuko shrugged, and stepped aside a little to allow the younger boy a view of the map. After a few moments, Kouji laughed slightly. "I don't think he's doing any evading at all."

"…What's he doing, then?" Zuko asked, actually turning the map sideways to try and figure it out.

"What any kid with free range of the world would do," Kouji said. "Look — over there are hogmonkeys. And there's a herd of hopping llamas here."

The prince was silent for a very long moment. "…Where do you think he's going next?" he finally asked.

Frowning, the boy studied the map. "Probably here," he said at last, tapping an island. "There's elephant koi. I heard some of the locals ride on their backs as a rite-of-passage into adulthood."

"…Then we're going there, too," he said, decisively, and went to give the order.

Kouji glanced at Iroh. What if he was wrong? He'd only had passing interaction with the Avatar, after all, much less than Zuko had.

Rumour, however, with her thousand tongues, proved him right a few days later. Kouji practically bounced for several hours after that.

To say that the attack on Kyoshi Island went poorly would be a massive understatement. Not only did it fail to achieve its stated goal, but, upon returning, Prince Zuko shut himself up in his room for days and refused to talk to anyone.

Kouji had added some of the dirt of Kyoshi to his bag, and then asked around, but the soldier's statements didn't clarify anything for the boy. Had the Avatar's second escape upset Zuko that badly?

When he finally got around to asking Iroh about it, the old man shook his head. "Prince Zuko dislikes involving non-combatants and bystanders."

"…oh," said Kouji after a moment. Yes, that did make sense, and with fire being such a destructive element…

"And so he wants to be alone for a little while — which is nearly impossible on the ship. So he does the best he can."

"I see." Distressed, Kouji took the bag of dirt off his belt and absently bounced it up and down in his hand.

"He'll be all right," Iroh assured the boy, though he didn't sound quite entirely convinced himself.

"Yeah… it's… it's just so easy to worry about him." Kouji had completely forgotten that he'd spent his first month aboard the ship afraid of the prince.

"Yes," the old man agreed.

The boy shook his head, caught the bag, and leaned against the cool metal wall.

"He'll come out eventually," Iroh said, after a few moments of silence. "And he will pretend that nothing is wrong, and he didn't just spend two or three days coming to terms with what happened."

"Right." A pause. "Is there anything I should do in the meantime?"

"If anything comes up, I'll let you know."

Kouji bowed, and then locked himself in his room.

When he was certain he was alone, he opened his bag and tipped some of the sand into his palm. As he stared at it, the sand slowly began to stir.

* * *

Since Zuko had left his room, Kouji had taken to following the prince around like a second shadow rather than Iroh. The old man smiled a little, seeing that his secret reason for bringing the boy along with them was finally playing out.

Neither boy seemed aware of Iroh's agenda, whatever it was.

Several weeks passed with no other sign of the Avatar and his party other than further rumours — and the necklace Zuko had found on a destroyed rig, far out at sea. There was no doubt in anybody's mind that the necklace belonged to the Water Tribe girl who had been with the Avatar.

Shortly after that, Zuko's seemingly endless search was once again delayed — the old General had been captured.

Kouji refused to head back to the ship when this was discovered, insisting that he could help. Finally, impatient to find Iroh, the prince had given up arguing and let him tag along. When Zuko discovered one of Iroh's sandals, Kouji had noticed the ostrich-horse tracks, and was staring at them, frowning.

"…What is it?" the prince asked, carefully putting the sandal somewhere he wouldn't have to deal with the smell.

"This formation… I think they're from Ba Sing Se."

Zuko stared at him, then at the tracks, then swore again. "Let's go." Kouji quietly fell behind the prince, his worry mounting.

They caught up to the soldiers and Iroh not long after that, and the prince gave the younger boy a terse order to stay behind, before sliding down the hill to free the old man.

Kouji did not obey, instead following a few seconds behind Zuko and taking cover behind a boulder.

"…you're clearly outnumbered," one of the soldiers was saying.

"And you are clearly outmatched," Iroh replied, smiling.

Kouji's eyes went wide as general and exiled prince began to fight. Both were powerful benders, and strong fighters even without that, as proved when Iroh used his chains to do battle.

The boy, wanting to help, did what he could from behind the boulder, sending more than one rock just off-course enough that a blow would be softened or miss entirely. Neither prince seemed to notice, at least outwardly. Nor did any of the soldiers.

The skirmish was over quickly. Quickly, Kouji scrambled back to where Zuko had left him, hoping the prince hadn't seen him returning.

He hadn't. "Let's head back," he said, quietly.

"Yes, Prince Zuko," he replied, his mouth dry as he realised what he had just done. How could he have been such an idiot?

Neither of the two firebenders, however, made any comment, nor was there any change in the interaction between the three of them — other than some understandable awkwardness, given the old man's state of near-total undress.

Slowly, Kouji relaxed and released the death grip on his little bag of dirt.

* * *

Now that Iroh had been returned to them, they were free to continue their pursuit of the Avatar — going dangerously far west.

"Isn't this close to Fire Nation waters?" Kouji asked Iroh softly. The boy had started wearing his hair in a high ponytail, clearly in emulation of Zuko.

Iroh nodded, and went to discuss this with the prince when they got within sight of the blockade.

Kouji wandered to the bow of the ship and stared at the water, wondering when they would make land again.

He couldn't help overhearing the argument between the two princes.

"Sailing into Fire Nation waters… Of all the foolish things you've done in your sixteen years, Prince Zuko, this is the most foolish," Iroh told the prince, who was tracking the Avatar's bison in the sky through a spyglass.

"I have no choice, Uncle."

"Have you completely forgotten that the Firelord banished you? What if you're caught?"

"I'm chasing the Avatar," Zuko pointed out. "My father will understand why I'm returning home."

"You give him too much credit. My brother is not the understanding type."

Kouji shuddered and determinedly stared at the water, rather than the bison. Now was not the time to long for flight.

They pressed on, towards the blockade, with Zuko attempting to shoot the bison down.

"Technically, you're still in Earth Kingdom waters," the General said, trying once more to talk his nephew out of this foolishness. "If you turn around now, they cannot arrest you."

In response, Zuko just kept watching the Avatar. "He's not turning around!"

"Please, Prince Zuko. If the Fire Nation captures you, there is nothing I can do! Do not follow the Avatar!"

"…I'm sorry, Uncle," Zuko murmured, then called out, "Run the blockade!"

Kouji's head snapped up at the order. Was the prince mad?

Iroh sighed, and came over to him. "Get below. This will not be pleasant."

"Yes, sir," whispered Kouji, silver eyes wide. He bolted for the hold.

The ship rocked with a few impacts, but they survived running the blockade, and were, afterwards, hit with an even-more frightening silence.

Miserable, Kouji cleaned up the mess he'd made when the rocking had jarred his too-delicate stomach, and slowly crept back to the deck.

"Go back down," Iroh told him. "It may not be safe up here yet."

"Wha's goin' on?" the too-pale boy asked, clinging to the door.

"We've illegally entered Fire Nation waters. If we're caught before Prince Zuko is able to successfully capture the Avatar, we will likely all be arrested." There was no point in painting the picture less bleak than it was.

Kouji nodded and shakily made his way back down, instinctively seeking solid ground and curling around his bag in a corner when he despaired at realising he'd never get it on this ship.

The next few hours passed in that same eerie silence, and then, about two hours after sundown, the ship turned around, returning to Earth Kingdom waters. Kouji, asleep in his corner, didn't realise.

By the time he woke up, they were safe outside the borders again, and Prince Zuko had once again locked himself in his room.

"…what happened this time?" the boy asked Iroh as he ate a little bland rice to settle his stomach.

"I don't know. He won't tell me," Iroh replied.

Kouji frowned, concerned.

* * *

This time, Zuko's brooding was cut short by an impromptu shopping trip the old General arranged. Nobody was surprised when the boy turned out to be the first one down the ramp.

Zuko's annoyance with the seemingly wasted trip evaporated when he overheard to rather rough-looking traders discussing visitors who could only be the Avatar and his friends. "…and here goes nothing," Kouji said softly, watching the traders warily.

The prince made a deal with them — he would help them recover their scroll and they would give him the bald boy who had stolen it.

Wary, Kouji followed along, staying Iroh's shadow now, rather than the prince's.

Predictably, this encounter did not turn out well, with Zuko and the traders — pirates — crossing and double-crossing one another at every turn. It was a small surprise when the mess ended violently. The pirates set off smoke bombs, and the Avatar, the two Water Tribe children, the pirates, Zuko, Iroh, and Kouji, and their soldiers entered into a blind melee.

Rather than fight, Kouji tried to get out of the smoke, coughing desperately and ducking low, trying to avoid any blows from the pirates. "Prince Z-Zuko!" he called, coughing. "General!"

Neither answered. At one point, briefly, the Avatar cleared the air, but, finding himself completely surrounded, he brought the smoke back and called something indistinctive to a member of his party.

Fortunately, it was enough for Kouji to re-orient himself, and he bolted for the edge of the cloud — and ran into something blue.

It was the Water Tribe boy from the fight in the South Pole. "…Hey!"

Kouji's eyes widened, and he scrambled quickly away from him. Not scared. Nope. Just a strategic retreat until he could breathe properly.

Fortunately for him, the older boy was distracted by the pirates, one of whom nearly tripped over him, and Kouji was given his moment to collect himself.

He turned — and saw Zuko duelling with the pirate captain. And there was a pirate archer taking aim at the prince.

Kouji didn't stop to think. He slammed his foot down and dragged his arms up, and a pillar of earth slammed up and into the archer, knocking him over.

No one noticed, in the thick of the fight, save the old general. Aha, he thought, as several things he'd noticed over the last several weeks finally began making sense. Then he returned to the fight.

When the dust had settled, the Avatar and his friends were gone — as were the pirates — and Kouji was nowhere in sight. Both the pirates' ship and the prince's boat were also gone, and Zuko turned his attention to finding the child.

He was eventually found up a tree, with an arrow sticking out of the fleshy part of his shoulder.

The foul language Zuko had used in his presence up to this point was eclipsed by the spout he let off now. Iroh smacked him, and the two of them got him down from the tree and back onto the ship.

Thinking the prince was angry with him, Kouji was quiet and withdrawn for the trip back. Zuko didn't seem to be angry at all, judging by the fact that he stuck by the younger boy while his wound was being tended to. Whether because of Zuko's presence, or just because he didn't want to appear weak, Kouji made no sound as the arrow was removed from his shoulder and the wounds stitched shut.

And still Zuko stayed.

When Kouji woke — he'd fainted somewhere along the line — he stared at Zuko when he realised the prince was still there.

"You okay?" the older boy asked.

Kouji nodded. "Kinda embarrassed enough I wasn't fast enough to avoid that." There is no way he'll ever tell the prince that he had, in fact, been fast enough — that arrow had been aimed at his heart.

Zuko shrugged. "It happens."

"Yeah…" At least he didn't kill you.

The prince shrugged again, then stood up and left to lock himself in his room again.

Kouji frowned. He blames himself. Doesn't he. And it was my own stupid fault for using my earthbending — but I had to! If I hadn't, Prince Zuko might…

I should've sent him back to the ship. And I shouldn't've gotten involved with pirates, Zuko thought, bleakly, staring at one of the banners on his wall.

---

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