[act one; chapter two     -     a red shadow]

    Zuko thinks of her. He finds himself in Ba Sing Se and knows that Lian is so close. He knows that she is so close, yet so terribly far. He misses her. He misses her laughter and her stubbornness. He misses her curiosity and constant questions. He misses watching her discover her power, how she could bend the earth to her very will. How, in his whole life, he had never seen someone so in control of their bending, so much so that he was, at times, afraid. Not of her. Never of her. But of what power those around him beheld. His father, his sister, his uncle, and now his best friend.

    Zuko misses Lian, and he has no idea what to do.

    He hopes, as he sits in this new place, this new start, that Lian still laughs. That she is happy. That she is not plagued by the war his family started. He hopes for her, and wonders, briefly, if she hopes for him.

———

    "You know, doing that could get you all in some serious trouble."

     Katara spins on her heels, surprised by the sudden sound of a newly familiar voice. She gasps, holding her hand, clutching the fliers, to her chest.

    "Lian?"

    The Princess smiles, crossing her arms over her chest. "Hello again."

    "What are you doing here?"

    "Looking for you and your friends, of course." The older girl approaches the water bender, stopping at her side, observing the posters in her hands. "I heard about the lost Sky Bison, and I thought I might come help."

    "But...Joo Dee said we weren't allowed to hang them. You're the Princess, shouldn't you agree with all of these things?"

    Lian laughs. She clutches her stomach and shakes her head. "No," she smiles. "I don't agree with a lot of things here, in Ba Sing Se. Like not speaking about the war."

    Katara goes still, and, suddenly, erupts with energy. She gently grasps one of Lian's hands, holding it in her own, shaking it lightly in what seems to be excitement. "I didn't think we'd talk to anyone who knew about the war, or was willing to speak about it!" She sets the remaining fliers on the ground, not quite forgotten, but no longer her main point of focus. Instead, her focus is on the girl in front of her. "Wait, how are you even here, we're not in the—"

    "Katara?" A voice cuts them off. A voice that Lian does not know, but Katara is, she realizes, familiar with. "I think I can help you."

    But clearly, by Katara's first instinct and reaction, he is not a welcome sight. She floods the street with water, a controlled wave, just as the boy cries out an excuse that will get him nowhere in a world like this. He is knocked down an alleyway, the two girls following after the rush of water.

    Katara, with water balanced between her palms, says, "Tell it to some other girl, Jet."

    But he continues to fight back. Shard of ice after shard of ice, this boy, Jet, reflects every hit. He says, "I don't want to fight you, I'm here to help."

    He drops his weapons and reaches for his back pocket, but before he can get any further, before Katara can even blink, Lian has flicked her hand and something akin to cuffs, crafted from the very stone of the wall behind him, has him anchored to the wall.

    Lian approaches him, leaning her head down slightly so that she can look him in the eyes as she says, "She said to go bother someone else."

    The boy just glares at her. He doesn't know who she is, she realizes. But she knows that he is the type to not care. Not that she would want him to. But it shows how reckless he is. How he would act and ask questions later, not caring or minding for the consequences unless they were to directly affect himself.

    Katara's friends come running down the alleyway, most likely having heard the commotion. Her brother, Sokka, immediately asks questions, saying, "What is it?"

    "Jet's back," she says, no amount of emotion found in her voice.

    Lian turns her body, looking at the group of them, specifically watching how the Avatar stares at her in awe. She doesn't know why, nothing she did is out of the ordinary or spectacular.

    The girl looks to Katara for answers. "Who is this boy?"

    "Jet. He betrayed us and tried to flood a village all to stop some trade of the Fire Nation."

    The Princess hums, nodding. She turns back to the boy, still anchored to the wall, and reaches a hand up. She clenches it, then, turning it into a fist, watching as the restraints tighten around his limbs.

     The waterbender shakes her head, putting herself between her friends and Jet. "We can't trust anything he says."

    Sokka points at him, as if trying to understand. "But we don't even know why he's here."

    "I don't care why he's here! Whatever the reason is, it can't be good."

    But Lian hesitates. She feels the shift of Jet's breathing and the thrumming of his heartbeat. She hesitates, and she can tell that Toph, the only other earthbender present, does too.

    "I'm here to help you find Appa," Jet defends. His hand, just barely free from the stone restraints, opens, unfurling a flier.

    "Katara," Aang says almost hesitantly. "We have to give him a chance."

    "I swear, I've changed. I was a troubled person, and I let my anger get out of control. But I don't have the gang, now. I've put all that behind me."

    But Katara can't believe it. Or won't. "You're lying."

    Lian shakes her head, just as Toph approaches, placing her palm flat against the wall in which Jet is confined. The Princess looks at Katara and says, "He's not."

    Toph confirms it, her foggy eyes cast towards the ground. "He's not lying."

    "How can you tell?" Sokka asks.

    "I can feel his breathing and heartbeat." She gestures towards Lian, "she can feel it, too. When people lie, there's a physical reaction. He's telling the truth."

    Aang sighed, turning to the girl, "Katara, we don't have any leads. If Jet says he can take us to Appa, we have to check it out."

     With a deep breath, and an unwilling mind from what Lian can see, Katara gives in. "All right." She turns to Jet, pointing at him. "But we're not letting you out of our sight."

    As they walk, Aang finds himself gravitating towards the older girl, towards Lian, the one person here who he does not know. He's met her, of course; he knows who she is. But he knows nothing about her. He doesn't know a single thing other than she can earthbend (apparently) and that she is the Princess of the Earth Kingdom.

    When he reaches her side, he looks up at her and says, "You're an earthbender."

    Lian laughs, as if she can see where the conversation is going before it even truly begins. "I am," she smiles. "I've been bending since I was two."

    "Mhm," the Avatar mumbles, avoiding her eyes. She sees right through him, he knows it. "That's cool. I've been airbending since I was that young, too!"

    Lian laughs again, "You don't need another teacher, do you?"

     "I could always use another one. Toph is great, she's the best earthbender I've ever met—no offense!"

    "None taken." She looks down at the ground, at her near-flat shoes. There is barely a layer between her feet and the earth beneath them, something that, when following her gaze, Aang also notices. She taps the tip of her foot against the ground, a crack miles long appearing at her will, splitting the earth in two. Not enough, of course, to cause any damage, but rather to prove as a sign of whatever bending abilities Aang knows she obtains. "Feel it beneath your feet, every little shift, every footstep. Connect with it in the same way you use your spiritual abilities to connect with your past lives."

    Aang's gaze snaps to her, his eyes wide. "How did you know about that?"

    "I read, Avatar. I know many things...and I've been keeping up with your adventures. I know how you came across Toph. I know how you met Katara and Sokka."

    "You do know a lot." It makes him laugh, really. He's not sure that he's met anyone who knows such details about his life other than...Zuko. He realizes something, then. Lian is a Princess of one of the four nations. And Zuko is the Prince of another. "Do you—do you know Prince Zuko?"

    Lian freezes, almost. She almost finds herself tripping over her own feet, choking on her own breaths. She does not know how to respond. She swallows her emotions, any feelings she may have, and clears her mind of her new whirlwind of thoughts. She nods and says, quietly, "Yes, I do. He—we used to be friends. But that was a long time ago."

    "Oh," Aang says, understanding. He figures, without needing to ask, that they knew each other before Zuko became the Zuko that he knows. Back when he was someone else, the person that Aang has only ever seen glimpses of. The boy in the spirit mask, the one who saved him.

    "Do you know him?" Lian asks him, repeating his own question.

    "Yeah," he replies. "He tried to kidnap me, and then kill me."

    "Oh," Lian nods absentmindedly. She had heard the stories of who Zuko had become, of the person he had turned into—or the man that his father had crafted out of a boy who had been burnt by his own hand.

    Before much more can be said, Jet guides them into a new building, turning to look at them over his shoulder. "This is the place I heard about."

    Aang sighs, looking around. "There's nothing here."

    "If this is a trap—" Katara gets cut off.

    "I told you, I work nearby." Jet said, his voice sounding angry as he turned to look at her. "Two guys were talkin' about some giant furry creature they had. I figured it must be Appa."

    Lian sighs, shifting her feet on the ground below her. She can feel him, feel Jet. And he's not lying. Katara, almost instinctively, looks to her, looking for answers. She shakes her head, "He's being honest."

    Suddenly, from across the room, Toph shouts, "He was here!" She holds up a tuft of fur, white fur. Lian figures, immediately, that it must belong to Appa.

    They gather around as Aang takes hold of it, holding it gently in his hands, as if it were a fragile, breakable piece of glass. "We missed him."

    "They took that big thing yesterday." They all gasp at the sound and presence of an old man, sweeping away the dust on the floor. "Shipped him out to some island. About time. I've been cleaning up fur and various, uh, leavings all day."

    "What island? Where's Appa?"

    The old man turns. "Foreman said some rich royal type on Whaletail Island bought him up, guess for a zoo or such, though could be the meat'd be good."

    "We've gotta get to Whaletail Island." Aang pauses, turning to look at them. "Where is Whaletail Island?"

    Sokka looks down at the map in his hands, exasperated. "Far. Very far."

    Lian leans down, pointing to the map as Sokka lays it out. "It's here, near the South Pole."

    Sokka sighs. "Almost all the way back home."

    "Aang," Katara says, gaining his attention. "It'll take us weeks just to get to the tip of the Earth Kingdom. And then we'll need to find a boat to get to the island."

     But the boy is firm and stubborn, shaking his head. "I don't care. We have a chance to find Appa, we have to try."

    The old man cuts in, "Must be nice to visit an island. I haven't had a vacation for years."

    Katara approaches him, angry. "Don't you have some more hair to clean up?"

    "Shuffle on, I get ya. No more need for old sweepy."

    Placing a hand on the Avatar's shoulder, Katara says, "You're right, Aang. Right now, our first concern has to be finding Appa. We can come back when we have him."

    "All right, let's get moving," Sokka says, already walking towards the doors.

    Toph pauses, turning her body to the side, as if searching for the other two bodies in the room. Her attention, however, is on Lian. "You coming with?"

    The older girl shrugs, looking between the four. "If you'll have me."

    Aang smiles. "We'd be happy to have you."

    But she is not the only other person in the room. Jet, who had almost blended into the shadows of the dark room, runs forward. "I'll come with you."

    "We don't need your help," Katara says pointedly.

    "Why won't you trust me?"

    She huffs, "Gee, I wonder."

    Toph, almost like she could hear or know Lian's thoughts, asks, "Was this guy your boyfriend or something?"

    "What? No!"

    Lian points at her, waving her hand around. "You're lying."

    Toph laughs, and Katara, with another huff, walks off.

———

    "We can take the train to the wall, but we'll have to walk after that." Lian explains, leading them through the streets of Ba Sing Se. She doesn't feel their eyes, and she ignores the others that follow.

    Sokka clears his throat, "What about your after? Won't he notice you're gone?"

    "No," she says, shaking her head. "He won't."

    He doesn't say anything more after that, falling silent.

    Aang, however, breaks the silence, saying, "Don't worry, on the way back, we'll be flying."

    Toph grins. "We're finally leaving Ba Sing Se. Worst city ever!" She pauses, falling silent. "No offense, Lian."

    The Princess shrugs, "None taken."

    "Jet!"

    Katara is the first to turn at the new voice and faces, and the first to launch an accusation. She looks at the boy in question, her brows furrowed. "I thought you said you didn't have your gang anymore."

    Jet turns, just as the small body of another person crashes into him, his excuse falling of deaf ears. "I don't—"

    "We were so worried," they say, letting go to look up at him. "How did you get away from the Dai Li?"

    Faster than any of them can process, really, Lian has lurched Jet away, shoving him so hard into the closest building that it splits from the pressure, cracking. "The Dai Li?" She does not release her hands from his clothes, pressing him even more into the wall, satisfied as it cracks even further.

    Jet shakes his head wildly. "I don't know what she's talking about."

    The girl puts a hand out, bathed in disbelief. "He got arrested by the Dai Li a couple weeks ago," she gestures to her companion, the boy with the hat. "We saw them drag him away."

    Jet struggles against Lian's grip, pulling at her hands, which only causes her to tighten her hold. "Why would I be arrested?"

    Lian leans her face closer to his. "I don't know, you tell me."

    "I've been living peacefully in the city!" Jet defends.

    The Princess releases him, shoving him hard into the wall before stepping away. She looks at Toph, who presses her hand to the ground, mumbling, "He's not lying."

   Toph shakes her head. "This doesn't make any sense. They're both telling the truth."

    "That's impossible," Katara says, throwing her hands out at her sides.

    "No, it's not." Sokka says, exasperated. He looks between them all, his eyes, however, focused on the only person present to know the Dai Li better than anyone else. "Toph can't tell who's lying because they both think they're telling the truth. Jet's been brainwashed." He looks directly at Lian. "Right?"

    The Princess crosses her arms over her chest, looking between Jet and these people who, from what she now knows, used to be his friends. "The Dai Li have a method of cognitive manipulation. They sit you in a room under extreme circumstances and repeat information, essentially forcing you to believe everything that they say. They take whatever you really know, and change it until you believe what they say."

    Jet turns to her, pointing at her. "That's crazy!"

    "No, it's not." Lian remembers it. The very first time the Dai Li tried to manipulate her. They had tied her to a chair after she had brought up the war in front of her father. They had tied her down and left her there for days, trying to convince her of things they didn't want her to believe was real. "I've been living with it my whole life. I've spent sixteen years living around people who know who they are one day, and think they're someone else the next. It's not crazy."

    Jet shakes his head, his eyes blown wide, looking around, unsure of who to look at, who to trust. "It can't be. Stay away from me!"

———

    From up above, a shadow follows more shadows. Crouched beneath the moon, hidden in the night, she waits. She watches. She observes.

    The Dai Li, of course, patrol the streets, but they are not alone. Not tonight. And she does not mean herself.

    A new body tramples through the streets, clad in black, masked in blue, and wielding two blades fit for destruction. She follows, of course, quickening her pace as the Dai Li follows the shadow, not knowing of her own shadow that lingers just behind them.

    But, as they turn the corner into the alleyway, the soldier—or spy—does not find his target. No, he finds a dummy. A trick. A ploy.

    He finds a sword around his neck, then, and the blue mask at his back. The voice, low and raspy, says, "If you don't want to end up like him, you'll do what I say."

    The red shadow crouches down even lower, hidden among the natural figures of night. She can see the light not far away—the light of the building where her newfound friends remain, questioning Jet. But here she is, not with them, but rather with a body whom she has been waiting to hunt for three years.

    She had told them, of course, that she had something she needed to do. Somewhere she needed to go before she could help them further.

    Which is how, as a shadow does, she finds herself hidden beneath the sun, following its every movement. It's how she finds herself at "Lake Laogai", trailing closely behind an old friend. An old companion. Someone who used to be something more than that.

    Somehow, she gets there before she does. And she is not naive to the ricocheting of the earth's every shatter and shake nearby, of how it threatens to crumble beneath her own two feet.

    She crouches before him, pulling her weapons from her person, throwing them to the side. He growls, the great beast. The gentle, spiritual, great beast. She holds a hand out, speaking calmly. "Appa." He quiets, almost entirely, invested in the small piece of orange fabric she holds in her hand. She holds it out to him, relieved by the way he recognizes it, how he seeks to nuzzle it, to pull it from her hand. "Hello, Appa. I'm here to return you to Aang. Please let me help you—"

    "I wouldn't, if I were you."

    She can't help it. She can't control it. She doesn't know why it happens, or how, but her body freezes. She turns slowly, on her heels, and stares at the near identical mask to her own. His blue to her red. And she freezes. Lian, the Princess of the Earth Kingdom, having come to betray her own nation, freezes before the Prince of the Fire Nation,