"I don't think this is a good idea," Zuko said. He was lying. He knew it was a terrible idea.

"Don't be ridiculous, Zuko." Aang's eyes were huge. Way too huge. He was sixteen, and still hadn't mastered the art of lying.

Not that Zuko had, or anything. "I just think it's a bad idea."

"Mai thought it was a good idea," Aang said, gaze moving to her.

Mai didn't answer, just smiled a little and nodded.

"Mai likes humiliating me," Zuko said.

"Well." Aang tilted his head like he was thinking about it. Zuko knew that look: it meant trouble. "If you're scared, I guess that's okay."

Zuko could practically hear Uncle laughing at him when he strode forward and grabbed the glider. "Fine. And when I fall out of the sky, you can tell the Fire Nation why their leader has a dozen broke bones." That wouldn't happen, of course, because Aang would keep him from falling. But Zuko felt like he had to put up some kind of protest. "I don't want to jump off a cliff" wouldn't cover it.

"Have fun!" Aang said cheerfully.

Zuko sighed, waited for a gust of natural wind, and jumped off the cliff.

This had all started because Aang was bored. There wasn't peace everywhere yet, but he'd been traveling almost constantly, and Katara had finally grounded him. From an entire continent away, which Zuko had to admit was kind of impressive.

But Aang didn't do vacations well, so he'd built another glider that he swore would carry someone in a windy place without airbending. And because the Fire Nation apparently didn't really need the leader who was destined to lead them into a time of peace and happiness – or because Uncle had practically thrown him out of the palace, since he hadn't taken a day for himself in ages – he'd gotten Zuko to help him test it.

And now he was going to die.

The first few seconds, he was so paralyzed that all he could do was hang on and hope he didn't fall out of the harness. Then the wind gusted and he sped up, and he was far enough away from the cliff now (probably; he wasn't going to turn around and check) that he could yell at the top of his lungs.

But then he started coasting towards the ground, and he found out if he leaned a little he could sort of control where it was going, and Aang had gotten himself and Mai down to the meadow below. It was kind of...nice.

In a terrifying, death-defying way, of course.

Aang broke his landing, which was nice, since Zuko didn't really feel like any broken bones today.

"Well?" Aang said. He had a new-ish scar on the side of his neck, but he was still smiling like a twelve-year-old.

Zuko could feel himself grinning like a moron. He smiled even wider when Mai came over and linked their hands together.

"It was okay," he said. "Maybe we can do it again sometime."

"We can totally do it again sometime," Aang said, and then leaped into the air, coasting off with a bizarre combination of bursts of air and spinning discs of rock.

"You know something's wrong, right?" Mai said.

Zuko leaned down and kissed her. "What, with Aang?"

She gave him the look that said he was being stupid again. "Yes."

"Sheer terror sort of overwhelmed me," Zuko said, but he thought back. The forced vacation, Aang's nervous energy. Sure, the kid was a teenager who had the attention fly of a very, very impatient bat-squirrel, but...

Yeah. Something was going on.

"I'll talk to Uncle," he said as they started to walk back. It would take them awhile; they were about three miles from where they'd left their transport. "And – maybe Katara."

"Hmm."

Mai was quiet for a few minutes, and then said, "You looked happy up there."

"I kind of thought I was going to puke."

Laughing was still something Mai just kind of didn't do much, but she made the muted noise that meant that she was laughing somewhere inside. "You looked like that, too."

"We don't have time for this," Zuko said. "We'll never have time for this. We –" Still have to make it up to the world.

"Iroh would say that if you never have time, then you always have time."

The part of Zuko that was still barely older than twenty, the part he tried to silence because he was the Fire Lord and he had a job to do, wanted to say something rebellious, or at least a little nasty. Instead, he said, "Maybe. I don't know."

"Talk to him," Mai said. "You're friends." Another measured look. Mai'd had to grow up pretty fast, too. "Not that I mind you dumping all your secrets on me, but it's okay to share them with other people, too."

"I'm getting better at it," Zuko said, knowing it sounded kind of ridiculously defensive.

Mai smiled and stopped them so she could kiss Zuko again. "Of course you are," she said.

Zuko smiled like a total dope. Some things had stayed good.

||

Finding Aang was easy: he just had to look for people who looked a lot happier and a little more nervous than usual. He found him in one of the many unused rooms of the palace, amusing a few kids with waterbending.

"I knew you'd end up corrupting the children," Zuko said. "The old advisors warned me."

Aang leapt to his feet. "No worries, Fire Lord! I'm leaving tomorrow, right?"

This time Zuko paid attention to how he looked. "Come on, let's take a walk."

Aang's expression flickered for a second: he was nervous. But he followed Zuko out anyway.

It was still weird to walk around the palace and not be afraid of what he'd see when he turned the corner. If he walked in on someone firebending he still flinched a little. But if there were stories about the Fire Lord's weakness, no one had ever even hinted to him that they existed.

"Villages are still dying, you know," Aang said when they went out to a garden.

Zuko did know. He had reports sent in, now, from ministers in the Earth Kingdom, and Katara sent him news about the Water Tribe. "We can't stop it all. All we can do is try."

"I'm tired," Aang said. "I'm trying not to be, but I am."

"You were supposed to be resting," Zuko said. He tried not to make it sound too accusatory. Aang probably would have gotten it anyway, though. Maybe.

Aang's smile just looked sad. "I tried."

"Okay." He could fix this. He was the Fire Lord, and Toph was in the Earth Kingdom, and Katara was leading the Water Tribe. All of them together could corral the Avatar.

Maybe.

"Spend two days here," he said after a minute of thinking. "Two days with Toph, and two days with Katara. And then come back up here, and I'll have Toph come and help us figure out a new plan. A better plan." They'd been trying, and they'd keep trying. But Aang needed a few days of thinking about a better plan, and a change.

Aang didn't look convinced. "I've already taken a week. That's too long."

The last time Zuko had tried to look scary, Suki had laughed so hard she'd almost fallen out a window. So Zuko widened his eyes and tried for stern, instead. "Do you want me to get Toph up here now? I bet she'd be able to make you take a break."

"No! No, I'm good." Aang hopped from foot to foot. "And tired. But good. I'll do it."

"Okay." Zuko touched his shoulder awkwardly, then dropped his hand. He was still really bad at –

Aang leaped forward and hugged him. "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight," Zuko told the already-empty air.

He walked over to a bench and sat down, enjoying the sun. They'd figure something out, he knew. He and his – his friends, would figure something out. And they'd keep making things better.

He nodded to himself, satisfied. His friends.