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Weeks of searching, more weeks of life on Stacy, and Zuko still hadn't found who he was looking for.

He was getting plenty sick of tunnel-crawling, too, and closer to a Punishment than was probably smart. And he hated to think of how much time "missions" were going to take away from his search . . . but whether he lacked time or not, he still needed to train.

The scarred prince ran through his katas in the Sensoriums, a breeze cooling the sweat on his back and blowing away the heat from his flames as he practiced in an open-air dojo. They were basic katas. His uncle would have been proud -

Except, no. He really wouldn't. Zuko faltered in his stance, remembering the last time he'd seen his uncle - the dim prison, the quiet disapproval in his voice, and Zuko's fireblast went wide as he stumbled.

Shit. At least nobody was there to see, right . . .?

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"That's kinda what I mean. Focus isn't exactly my strong point. Which don't work so good when everything rips like cardboard if you touch it the wrong way," says Kon.

. . . ookay. Zuko eyes Kon for that one. Who says that? Who just says, "focus isn't my strong point," and doesn't add on, "but I'm working on it really hard, since what you need is focus to be a great warrior?"

What he says is, "What's cardboard?"

Maybe they don't say it because they think it's a given.

"Something that rips really easy even for normal people."

Maybe, but Zuko has doubts about most of the people on Stacy at this point. If they aren't up front about their honor and discipline, then whether or not they actually have any remains to be proved. Zuko's weirded out by that.

"I can see how that would be a problem."

"Were you born with yours? Or did you get dipped in toxic waste, or are they magic or something?" Kon asks, poking around the dojo curiously as he talks. He looks all the world like a little kid poking at--

Turtleducks? (http://i32.tinypic.com/5websg.jpg)

"Holy crap!" He sounds excited. "These ducks are mashed together with turtles!"

Yeah, he found the reflection pool.

Toxic what? "I was born with them. It's not magic. It's firebending - channeling energy from my breath into fire. An art of my country."

It's hard to focus on his katas with Kon poking around everything - especially when he's squealing about the turtleducks.

"Uh, yeah, they're turtleducks." Duh, Kon.

Yeah, he thinks they're kinda cute. He's not a huge animal person, but he is a sucker for some cuteish things.

"Exactly! Instead of, y'know, just turtles or just ducks."

He imagines up a piece of bread to start feeding them.

"These are way cooler and less weird than talking animal-people. Although some of the ones I knew were good guys."

Talking animal-peop - okay. Sure.

"You can't have a just-turtle or a just-duck, that would be like having a bear that wasn't a skunkbear, or a platypus-bear."

You people with your not making sense.

"We have just-bears. And just-skunks. And just-platypuses. And just-turtles and just-ducks," Kon says. "We don't have the 'just' in front of their names, though, 'cause we don't need it. Everything's a 'just.'"

He sits down next to the pond, Indian style, and it's a kind of funny picture, this hulking teenager sitting there contentedly feeding turtle-duckies. It's like someone the size of Combustion Man sitting there petting a owl-cat or something.

"Geez, do all your animals look like Dr. Sivana went nuts on 'em and mix and matched?"

"Weird."

Beyond the size, there isn't much Zuko would compare in Kon and Combustion Man. The goofball air just doesn't scream 'silent assassin' or anything.

"All our animals look like they've always looked. I don't know who Dr. Sivana is."

This would be a good time for Zuko to point out that Kon kind of barged in and interrupted his training time, but really, if Zuko was adamant about getting alone time at this point, he would have kicked Kon out long ago.

"Supervillain. Crazy-go-nuts--but then most of 'em are. Has a thing for the mad science, and creating horrible abominations against nature, et cetera, et cetera. Genesplicing--uh, cramming different animals together--that's the kinda stuff mad scientists do, though usually they're trying to make wolves that shoot bees out of their mouths or something."

Kon rubs his chin thoughtfully.

"I wonder if any bad guy's ever thought of that. That'd suck."

He turns and grins.

"It is all pretty weird though. This ship? Not really that out there by our standards."

"Super -"

Wolves. That shoot bees. All right.

"So this isn't strange for you at all." The ship, not the sensoriums. Because Zuko can barely make sense of either.

"Nah, been abducted by aliens before, been on spaceships before, dealt with brain parasites before. You name it, I've seen it."

"I haven't."

And there was nothing wrong with that! Some lives were filled with weirdness, some lives were filled with politics. Zuko just got the politicky life.

. . . right.

Kon looks up at him.

"You're holding up pretty well for someone who hasn't, but then a lot of people are. It's impressive."

Zuko thinks about that for a minute. "Thanks, I think."

He pauses before adding, "So if this has happened before, what do you usually do to get out of it, or are you ALWAYS on starships like this?"

"Usually we eventually find our way to whoever's in charge, punch them until they stop, stick one of our brainy people on taking over the computers to get everyone home, bim bam boom we're back for breakfast," Kon says, turning back to feeding the ducks.

They're now eating out of his hands.

"This one's just a little more complicated. Since we weren't the only ones taken. Gotta save everyone in the Pod Caverns. Keep 'em from getting hurt. That's a lot of potential hostages we have to protect."

"There are more than just in the Pod caverns. I spoke to one of the spirits of the ship. They have a . . ."

Okay, no, Aang's not really his friend.

"They have someone I know somewhere on the ship. He's being held hostage. Probably for his power. I need to find him and free him before I can go."

Kon perks up. "Like you know for sure? They've got him somewhere other than the Pod Caverns?"

"If Rommie can be trusted, then yes."

"You tell anyone? They need to know these things for when we start, y'know. Getting around the ship. So everyone knows to look for him. What he looks like, all that."

Well, not a lot of people, really, because this is HIS mission. They've all got concerns from their own worlds, and plus, Zuko doesn't trust a lot of them yet.

"My girlfriend Mai is helping me search."

She might not KNOW she's helping him hunt the Avatar (oh, irony), but she is.

"That's only two people and it's a big ship."

"I know her, and I trust her."

Wow, for a big dumb lunkhead, that's an awful shrewd look on his face.

"You're afraid someone else's gonna get to him first if they know to look." Another pause. "Which, if the ship thought he was special and wanted to shove him off to the side somewhere for his power, they might. I don't trust that Master guy, for instance. He oozes the kinda smarminess that--" A pause. "--that other people I know do."

He has a way about him that seems perfectly innocuous and even trustworthy, but Kon habitually distrusts someone with an air like that--it's too much like Luthor, lying his face off and seeming the benevolent CEO looking out for the people. It took years to develop, but Kon has a good people sense, in regards to people like that.

"And who knows what Wednesday's deal is."

He gets it actually.

"You know who might be able to help you? That you could totally trust?"

You might think he's about to suggest himself, but he gets it. "Bandit. He's a dog that can talk. But I mean, he's a dog. You know, he thinks like one. Loyal and all. Not a scheming bone in his furry lil' body. You'd just have to make sure he'd understand not to tell anyone else what you were looking for. Plus he might be able to track by scent, but you'd need something that belonged to the guy you're looking for, and just have to hope there's a trail..."

Something like...say a bison whistle?

But it is actually a helpful suggestion. Animals are too dumb and loyal to want to use Avatars for nefarious purposes, even talking ones. The main thing is making sure the dog wouldn't tell anyone. But then Zuko doesn't have to tell the dog exactly what he's looking for...