Zuko had made plans to spend all day with Mai, so Ty Lee pulled Kouji aside to a quiet corner of the grounds and began showing him what she could do. The boy was, as Hyo had already discovered, eager to learn anything that might help him defend his beloved prince. Palace rumour did not look favourably on Kouji's attachment to (obsession with, whispered some) Zuko, and sought to put it into terms they could understand. Ty Lee, on the other hand, was pleased by it, and spent most of the morning showing him different ways to paralyze various parts of the body of any attacker.

"You're amazing," Kouji told her at one point. "How did you learn all this? And… why?"

Ty Lee giggled. "Yeah, I guess I am pretty amazing. I learned this from one of my acrobatics teachers. She was one of the meanest ones. Anyway, she was teaching me when I was just starting to look grown-up, and said it was useful for making sure people knew no meant no."

Briefly, the boy looked confused, and then his eyes widened and he flushed dark red.

The teenager then hesitated a minute, then pressed on. "This next bit I worked out for myself. I kinda didn't do what I was trying to do right, and figured out how to block someone's bending."

Grey eyes snapped up to her as the blood rapidly drained away from his face. "Y-you can do that?"

She nodded. "Just for about fifteen minutes, but it's enough to seriously freak out whoever you do it to."

Kouji considered this, and then: "Show me?" His tone was pleading.

She nodded. "Well, for earthbenders, you have to hit here, here, here, and here." She demonstrated on her own body.

He paid rapt attention, touching those same places on his arms to settle them in his mind.

"For fire, here, here, and here." This time, she demonstrated by hitting him in the relevant places. "And for water, here, here, and here." Again, she hit him.

But she hadn't touched him at all for — oh. Oh. He peeked up at her through his eyelashes.

Her expression hadn't changed at all. "You have to hit hard and fast. Pinching as hard as you can is actually the best way to make sure," she continued.

Kouji nodded, and idly wondered if he could test this on Kim— no. Better to keep this in reserve. This would be expected coming from Ty Lee. But Kouji could use more than one tile up his sleeve.

The teenager flipped over onto her hands, considering what to teach him next.

"…Ty Lee?" Kouji asked after a moment.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you travel with her?"

"'Cause she's my friend. Me and her and Mai. For as long as I can remember," Ty Lee said. "And she hasn't gotten to the point where I can't be friends with her anymore. Hopefully she won't ever."

Kouji nodded, accepting this. "That makes sense." He sighed.

"Why d'you ask?" she said, looking up at him.

He shrugged. "You know this place. People talk. After you ran off to join the circus… I wondered what would have brought you back."

"She's my friend and she needed me." She shrugged.

Kouji thought back to his decision to travel to the Fire Nation. "Yeah. Yeah, I can understand that."

"Anyway. Um. Wanna learn to walk on your hands?"

"Sure!"

"Okay!" She flipped back over. "First, just try to stand on your hands."

Kouji looked at his arms, then offered them to her. His eyes were glinting. "First, let's make sure I don't cheat."

"...No," she said. "Sorry, it really freaks people out. I'm not doing that to anyone I don't have to."

Kouji frowned, but let his arms drop. "Are you sure? I'd know it was coming…"

"Even if you know, it's still freaky. I'm sure."

"Okay." So he would have to will himself not to cheat. Hesitantly, he bent over, placing his hands flat against the earth and kicking his legs up into the air — and then felt Ty Lee's hands catching his ankles before he went any farther. "Don't push off so hard next time."

The boy flushed at her ankles. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "Used to jumping high."

She grinned. "It's fine." She lowered him down. "Try again."

Kouji did so, but this time didn't push off enough. His feet crashed to the earth. "Oh, for a happy medium."

She giggled. "Here, try doing it against the tree instead. That way, you won't go too far."

"Right." He moved over to the tree and tried again, this time trying to add neither too much power or too little. His feet scraped roughly against the bark, but he didn't flinch.

"Better," she said, watching him. "Now just stay there as long as you can."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, relieved for his secret bending lessons. His arms were strong, capable of supporting him.

She sat down and stretched out, keeping an eye on him.

After a minute or so, Kouji said, "Ty Lee, I'm getting kinda dizzy…"

"Then come down," she said, smiling.

Carefully he lowered himself, trying not to fall, His face was red from the blood that had rushed to it.

"It gets easier the more you practice. Wait a couple minutes, then try again, and as soon as you're steady, try and walk away from the tree on your hands."

"Okay," Kouji agreed. He sat down to counter the dizzy until it faded, then did as he was told. When he tried walking, he managed two 'steps' before overbalancing. Again, Ty Lee caught him and lowered him to the ground. "Good!"

He grinned at her wildly, his eyes bright. "That was great!"

"Yeah, it is, isn't it," she replied, grinning back. "Soon as the dizzy fades, try again!"

It was, perhaps, the first afternoon in months that Kouji had spent in laughter. When the sun started to set, Ty Lee let him go inside to eat and sleep. To both of their surprises, the boy hugged her tight. "Th^ank you," he said, and promptly flushed.

Ty Lee giggled, and ruffled his hair. "Welcome," she said brightly.

Still flushing, he fled to the palace and got himself some dinner, then went to Zuko's room.

Zuko was just coming in, and he didn't look all that pleased.

All the joy of the afternoon drained out of Kouji. "Niisan?"

"What?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said, a little sullenly.

"…you sure?"

"I'm probably just overreacting."

"To what?" the boy asked, not unreasonably.

"It doesn't matter," the teenager replied, pacing.

Kouji sighed.

Zuko said nothing, just kept pacing on his well-worn path across the carpet. Kouji watched him, worried.

"How was your day?"

"Ty Lee taught me chi-blocking and… something else."

"Blocking bending?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay."

"Also walking on my hands."

"Fun."

Kouji nodded, then fell onto his back to stare at the ceiling.

Zuko continued pacing, and the younger boy sighed. Why did it feel like his days had settled into a rut?

And then Zuko started talking to himself, too quietly for Kouji to make out the specific words. Frowning, the boy sat up, trying to catch it. Still nothing, just a quiet, agitated mumbling.

"Niisan?"

He jumped and stopped pacing. "What is it?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Sure. Fine."

"You're not acting fine," he pointed out.

"I'm just pacing, Kouji."

"And talking to yourself."

"...Was I doing that out loud?"

Kouji nodded.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to."

"What are you arguing about?"

"What I should do now."

"Oh."

Zuko ran a hand through his hair and resumed pacing, Kouji watching him wordlessly for now. The teenager finally paused, staring out the window.

"...will you tell me what you decide?"

"Sure."

"Okay."

After a few minutes of staring, Zuko resumed pacing, while Kouji curled up and closed his eyes. Some indeterminate amount of time later, Zuko finally spoke. "I think I have to leave."

Kouji sat up. "Leave?"

"Yeah. Leave."

"Where are we going?"

Zuko was silent for a long moment, and the boy tilted his head to one side. "Why do you think you're coming?" the prince asked quietly, clearly trying to change the subject.

Kouji raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you think she'll do to me if you leave me behind?"

Zuko flinched. "Right..."

"I'm a hostage, Zuko," the boy said softly. "She knows what I am to you."

"I know. I know."

Kouji nodded, still quite calm. His feet were on the floor now, just in case. "So when do we leave?"

"Tomorrow. After the eclipse."

"So we prepare tonight?"

"Yeah."

Another nod. "I'll have to go to my session with Hyo tonight," he said after a moment. "If I didn't, it would be suspicious."

"Then go."

"When it's time." Kouji stood and looked at his brother-prince. "Where will we go?" he asked a second time.

"I'll need to make sure there's a balloon where I can get to it easily," Zuko evaded. "You'll wait with it while I take care of something. I'll be there as soon as the eclipse is over."

"Okay," the boy said, dropping his gaze. If Zuko didn't want to tell him, that meant only one thing.

"I'm going to go find them now," he said, a few seconds later, opening the window.

A thought occurred to Kouji, and his eyes widened. "Zuko, Mai—!"

"I'll leave her a note."

Somehow Kouji felt that wouldn't be sufficient, but he accepted it with a sigh.

The prince started to climb out the window. "You're in the clear," Kouji murmured, and headed off to his room to pack, and to write a note of his own.

Hyo watched the boy Kouji sneak back to his room with a frown. He wasn't at all surprised when his nephew joined him. "He's up to something, uncle."

"He's eleven," Hyo replied mildly. "By default he's up to something."

Kim gave him a vicious glare. He hated it when his uncle was being deliberately obtuse. "I meant with the prince," he clarified. "The brat barely breathes without the prince's permission."

"If that's how you choose to interpret it." Hyo's calm was utterly unflappable, and Kim snarled.

"He's not Mi-Cha."

"I am aware of that."

"Then why are you treating him like he's yours?!"

Hyo turned to his nephew and arched an eyebrow. "Put yourself in his shoes, Kim. A Fire-born earthbender is unheard of, possibly deliberately so. He may be the first. On the other hand, he may be the first to have survived this long. In this madness, who knows? He is, at the best, half-trained by someone who barely knew what they were doing with their own bending. He's never had a master."

The old Dai Li agent's grey eyes narrowed. "The children associated with the prince, princess, and Avatar are powerful, Kim. Powerful beyond their years. Kouji is one of them, albeit barely. If he lost his temper — say, if something were to happen to the prince — he could tear the palace down."

"I could stop him," Kim declared.

Hyo sighed. "Perhaps before I started training him."

"He is not better than me!"

"It is not a matter of skill," Hyo lied. "The boy is smart, and clever — and unorthodox. Unpredictable. You wouldn't be able to tell if he'd use the bending I taught him, or what he taught himself."

The younger agent snorted. "You're afraid of him."

"I fear the thought of him losing control. You would do well to do the same, my nephew."

Kim snarled wordlessly and stalked off.

.