Prince Zuko had to admit to being impressed. It looked like the Fire Nation wasn't the only one to place a great deal of value on Honour, for which he was very, very grateful.

General Hung offered to let the rest of the Fire Nation crew under Parole leave quietly, if they would remain in Earth Kingdom Custody until the war was over. Prince Zuko and the Dragon of the West, however, had standing Death Warrants on their heads, and would more than likely be executed. Hakoda counter-offered to take his fleet, and the captives, and go back to the South Pole, if the Earth Kingdom thought so little of Water Tribe honour.

Pakku had offered the same, and a threat to the effect of the General finding himself trapped in the bottom two-thirds of an iceberg if he tried it. Unfortunately for the Master, as the Earth Kingdom had little experience with Waterbenders, and as the Northern Tribe had yet to actually participate in the war, and was viewed with a certain amount of scorn because of it, the threat was taken a lot less seriously than Hakoda's.

Hakoda, on the other hand, was taken very seriously. Until the Southern Water Tribe came to help, the Earth Kingdom had been very lacking in anything like a navy, so they were unwilling to do anything to risk that alliance. Ultimately, General Hung simply agreed that the message to his superiors would be 'lost in delivery' until further notice. There was a particularly arrogant captain too well-connected to simply be given a much- needed demotion, and Hung could make him responsible if anyone actually investigated.

Even so, it would be best if the prisoners simply weren't around if anyone showed up for a surprise inspection.

The Fire Nation crew were spaced out amongst the Water Tribe ships, which should keep them out of the way of the Earth Kingdom officials. Tetsuko had temporarily placing herself on one of the Northern ships, mostly just to annoy them about having a woman soldier around. Zuko had the bad feeling that the sole woman on his crew was going to rub the fact in their faces for a very, very long time.

Katara had originally wanted her friend to come with them, but it was generally agreed that it would be hard enough to stop Zuko and Iroh from drawing attention, and three Fire Nation people would be pushing it. Katara settled for letters whenever possible, and Tetsuko kicking Northern Water Tribe butt for both of them.

Personally, Zuko was glad that they wouldn't have yet another chaperone while he was doing his clumsy beginner's best to court Katara. Zuko admitted that he had very little idea what romantic love was supposed to be like, having been barely aware that girls even existed in that sense when Lady Ursa disappeared, but thought that what he felt for Katara might be it. He knew that he liked her, and she was attractive and had become a good friend, and liked him enough to talk her father into offering Honourable Parole and protecting him and Uncle from being executed by the Earth Kingdom.

Zuko and Sokka had temporarily misplaced their mutual hostility long enough to discuss whether or not to feel sorry for the Northern Tribespeople, and agreed on not. Zuko didn't know his crew well enough to say if or how much Tetsuko would make them suffer for the inevitable misogynistic remarks, and Sokka thought that the Northern Tribe deserved whatever temporary misfortune might happen to them. In Katara's Brother's opinion, one Fire Nation Armada and a Female Fire Nation soldier turning their prejudices upside down didn't come close to decades of raiding, so the Northern Water Tribe had no room to whine about it.

Zuko really could have done without visiting the Foggy Swamp, especially after seeing his mother and discovering that it was only an illusion. Repeated prodding and enlisting Katara's aid to see what had his normally-cheerful Uncle in such a despondent mood revealed that his Uncle had seen Lu Ten, and the repeat of a nightmarish vision he had been granted upon visiting the Spirit World in search of his son.

Desperately searching for a bright side or cheerful remark, Zuko had commented that at least Katara and Sokka were as traumatized as the rest of them by their newfound-and-thankfully-very-distant cousins. It had earned a Sternly Disapproving look, marred by a small smile. Zuko had flatly refused the offer of borrowing clothing while their own recovered from crash-landing in the swamp, preferring to steam himself dry, but he was curious to see what the female version would look like on Katara.

That dream was shot down and incinerated when a young Swamp Tribe man tried to press the issue, and found himself hanging upside down from a vine, while more waved threateningly at him.

Zuko also could have done without encountering Chong and his band of Singing Nomads (who tried even Uncle's patience and that took some doing!) but going through the Cave of Two Lovers had some highlights.

He found himself actually pitying Sokka for being stuck with Chong and Co, while he and Uncle Iroh eventually wandered into a large tomb that Katara and Aang had discovered about five minutes before them, just in time to witness the Water Tribe girl storming away from a very confused Avatar.

Inwardly cheering, Zuko all but ran over to Hakoda's daughter, who was all too willing to explain. Apparently, the tomb was a monument to the first Human Earthbenders, Oma and Shu, who had fallen in love despite being on opposite sides of a war. They had built a Labyrinth of tunnels so that they could meet in secret, which had worked until Shu was killed in the war and didn't come. Grief-stricken, Oma had nearly destroyed both villages, and finally forced them to get along and build a single city, Omashu, between the two villages. The tomb was built with a statue of a man and a woman kissing, and the caption "Love is Brightest in the Dark".

Operating on pure guesswork, for lack of any better ideas, Katara had wondered if kissing and putting out the torch would show the way out, but admitted that it was a crazy idea.

Aang, showing a profound lack of Common Sense, Self-Preservation, and forethought, had reassured Katara that he would rather kiss her than die, which accounted for Katara's ire. Zuko was the first to admit that he didn't understand girls and probably never would, but how many kinds of an idiot would you have to be to say something like that? Avatar Roku had a family, and Avatar Yangchen was said to have born two children. Avatar Kyoshi, living to be over two hundred, had seen the first of her great-great-great-great-grandchildren born. Avatar Kuruk had never married after the death of his fiancée, but Aang was looking to be the first in an entire cycle of Avatars that was doomed to never get a girlfriend/significant-other, if he kept this up.

Still, that was no reason to waste probably the only chance he would get to kiss Katara and not be water-whipped. "I'll help you try it, if you don't object."

Katara looked briefly startled, but nodded. A second of concentration put out the torches as he leaned in to kiss her, and they broke apart after several seconds to see green crystals illuminating a path out. The crystals also illuminated a very surprised Uncle Iroh and an Avatar staring daggers at him, but that was beside the point.

Fending off his uncle and carefully placing Katara between him and the Avatar, and having the horrible feeling that news of this would be headed back to Sergent Tetsuko as soon as they found a hawker, Zuko tried to relieve the awkward atmosphere. "Oma and Shu could have thought that through better."

Katara, also trying to avoid Aang's betrayed stare, looked at him. "How so?"

Three years of searching for the Avatar had given Zuko plenty of time to look up History and strategy scrolls. "They might have known the way out, but what about all the people who would have become suspicious about where they were disappearing to and followed them in? If they were such powerful benders, why not just stop the war in the first place, instead of waiting years before one of them got killed?"

Katara looked thoughtful, and his uncle almost amused at something. The Avatar opened his mouth to speak, but then they saw the light of day, and Katara and Zuko burst into a run, not noticing that they still held hands.

Katara was worried when Sokka wasn't there, and wanted to go back and look for him. Zuko was trying to think of a tactful way to talk her out of it when the Water Tribe boy (and the singing Nomads) appeared, riding on a Badger-mole and looking far more relieved than a few hours in a cave should really warrant.

For the first time, Zuko actually felt sorry for Sokka. Zuko might have been forced to put up with the Avatar glaring at him all the time, but Sokka had spent hours stuck with the Nomads, and emerged from it all with a giant bruise on his forehead, caused by the many, many times he had face-palmed out of sheer frustration.

Zuko couldn't even bring himself to make a snarky comment about self-inflicted brain-damage.

Thanks go to Kimberly T., for letting me borrow her idea in the first place, and SCWLC, for inspiring the CotL scene. You guys are awesome!