Who We Are

Loyal.

Xiang.

Putting the last clean dish away, he marvelled at how much his life changed in such a short amount of time.

He'd gone from lonely days fill with work, coming home to his run down leaky apartment, to actually having a family again.

"Hey."

Zuko's voice made him jump.
Living in the lower ring and everything that had happened left him on edge.

Clearing his throat he turned around.
"Hey. Feel better?"

"Yea, having a wife that heals is nice." Zuko smiled at that.

"Yea I guess it would be." Xiang chuckled.

"Have you guys seen Aang and Toph?" Katara asked, walking into the kitchen.

"She came in earlier, said they were going to the market."

Just as he finished his sentence, his sister and the Avatar came in, slamming the door open hard enough to damage the wall.

"We've got a lead and a description of the guy that did this!" Toph yelled.

"We thought that we should all go look for him. More eyes and ears ya know." Aang said.

"Well, I'm in." Xiang said, coming to stand beside his sister. Though he didn't doubt her strength for a moment, he wasn't about to let her face this man without him.

"So am I." Zuko said.

"Katara, will you-"

"Stay with Appa? Of course I will." Katara cut Aang off with a knowing smile.

Xiang took a moment to admire the bond between them all. A slight pang of jealousy hit him. He had been alone most of his life and wished he had had people like this by his side all along.

"Hey, you coming bro?" Toph said, tugging on his arm and he smiled.

"Yea, sis. I'm coming." Maybe he had that now after all.

*************

Dragging his feet, he pushed open the door to his house.
The sound of childish laughter filled his ears and his stomach twisted even further.

He found out today that the old woman had died.
How could he face them after everything he'd done?

"Daddy!"

************
Aang.

His patience was wearing thin.

Finding this man was almost impossible. Looking down alleyways, paying close attention to anyone that passed them and nothing. Absolutely nothing. The man knew how to stay hidden. Aang felt as if they were chasing a ghost.

"We need a plan. A trap so to speak." Toph said after hours of walking through town.

"Like what?" Zuko asked.

Aang thought for a moment.
Going through the pattern of events that had transpired over the past week, an idea hit him.

"I've got it, but we need help. Someone willing to play the part of bait." He told the others.

"Bait?" Xiang asked, his brow's frowned in confusion.

"Yes. This man seems to want to stop us from finding Ursa. So..we set him up." Aang explained.
He was more than ready to stop this man from hurting anyone else. Almost losing Appa had been enough.

"I might know someone." Xiang said, holding his chin with one hand in thought.

"Perfect. We'll set it up tomorrow."