Hearing a little squeak, Airon opened his one eye to see the Avatar's lemur, Momo, stare at him curiously. Airon closed his eyes quickly. The squeak got louder, Airon guessing that Momo came closer. Airon was suddenly poked in his side before hearing Momo scurry away. Airon opened his eyes and stared down at the small, flying lemur; no emotion in his eyes. Momo peered up at him curiously and slowly moved towards him. After hesitating, Momo poked him again and waited to see the reaction. Airon did nothing. Momo's ears perked and he jumped onto Airon's antlers, positioning himself comfortably. Airon chuckled silently and peered over to the innocently sleeping Rei against his stomach. Airon snuggled his head into her nest-like bed hair. Aang walked out of the boys' room, yawning and stretching. He looked over and smiled before mocing into the bathroom. Airon lightly nudged at Rei, hoping to awake her. After repeating the action a few times, Rei groaned at the rude awakening.

"Ugh, what is it?" she moaned in annoyance. Airon lightly pushed her to her feet and got up himself, Momo still on his antlers. Sokka stumbled out of the boys' room, looking ready to pass out any second. Rei shook her head and stretched, slowly becoming fully awake. Airon smiled and dematerialized when a knock sounded at the door. Aang, being the only one fully awake, walked over and accepted the food from the servant. He went back inside and placed it on the dining table. Katara and Toph exited the girls' room and moved towards the bathroom. Airon materialized and walked over to the table. He looked at the plates and smiled at the basket full of nut muffins. He bended his head down and struck his lowest antler into one of them before taking two muffins himself. He moved towards Rei and offered the muffin on his antler and she happily accepted.

"So what's the plan today?" Rei questioned between bites.

"I'm going to the zoo to see if there's any sign of Appa." Aang spoke, packing a few muffins into his bag.

"Good idea. I'm also going out today." Sokka said, slumping in a chair at the dining table.

"We'll be staying home today." Airon explained.

"Huh? We are?" Rei asked in confusion. Wow, déjà vu. Airon nodded at her before moving over to get another muffin. Airon had gotten used to this type of human food long ago; where it was all vegetation yet didn't look like it. Toph and Katara exited the bathroom, both looking completely awake and ready.

"I think we're going to go out again today. What do you think Toph?" Katara asked.

"Yesterday was fun. We should do something today as well, and then tomorrow we can start Twinkletoes's training." Everyone agreed. Sokka got up and went to get ready.

"Alright, I'll see you guys later." Aang said before taking off. Katara and Toph soon left as well, after eating. Sokka quickly ate and left, Momo following him. That left Airon and Rei alone in the house.

"What did you want to do today?" Rei asked, narrowing her eyes slightly. Airon walked over to the girls' room and grabbed Rei's backpack in his mouth. He walked back and placed it in front of her. She looked at him very confused. Airon used his mouth to zip it open and pulled out one of the books they had gotten from the library and placed it on the table. Rei made an 'O' with her mouth and walked over to the table. Airon soon placed the other two next to it as well.

"I think we should maybe check it out now that we have a chance. After you've repaid the Avatar by getting the bison back, we're going to go look for them, aren't we?" Rei hesitated before nodding. The entire time while travelling them she had only thought about getting Airon back, and now to repay Aang and the others for the help by helping get Appa back; she had totally forgotten her original mission. She looked down at the books in front of her. 'The Biography of Avatar Wan', 'Harmonic Convergence – Raava and Vaatu', and 'The Spirit World and the Physical World'. All three of the books were topics no other library or person would be able to tackle, and they were the topics they had to look into. She grabbed the biography and stared at the cover. She had to admit, Avatar Wan was rather attractive. Airon rolled his eyes and grabbed the book about the two worlds in his mouth and placed it in front of him. "Open." He ordered. Rei rolled her eyes and opened the book for him onto the first page. It was always irritable to turn his pages for him since he, well, lacked the thumbs. They both started to read, which Rei always found odd. Since they were spirits, they were very different from the normal deer; hence the speech, materialization process, human food and reading capability. There are other things as well, and each and every single little thing about Airon made her interested. Spirits were interesting.

Airon was a fast reader, a lot faster than Rei. While she was halfway through a page, she had to stop to turn the page for him. It irritated him as well. He had once tried to use his antlers and even his mouth, but the results weren't successful.

"Avatar Wan's life was actually rather depressing, if you think about it. He had no parents and he grew up to steal. His one friend was an old man possessed by a tree-spirit and his other later went against Wan's spirit friends. His life was full of adventure, yet it doesn't say anywhere that he was particular disrupted by the fact that he lived the way he did. But I must say, we have something in common. Both of us' the best of friends are spirits." Rei said, leaning over to Airon with a smug look on her face. Airon rolled his eyes and snuggled his nose into her hair before reading on. Rei went back to her book and read as well.  

"It says the two portals are at the North and South Pole, but it doesn't get any more specific than that." Airon said later on, sighing. Rei shook her head and made a bookmark before standing up. She walked into the kitchen to make them both some lunch. Since they all were out during the day they told the servants that they didn't have to bring lunch over for them. She took out some vegetables and made two quick sandwiches. She went back and gave Airon the one and ate the other one herself. Rei read about a quarter and Airon a third of their books before realizing the words were becoming jumbled. They made bookmarks and hid the books in her backpack again before moving over to the coaches. Airon took the three-man coach and Rei slumped onto the two-man.

"And?" Airon questioned.

"Besides the Lion Turtles, not much. I haven't gotten that far. You?" Rei answered, her head throbbing.

"Except for the portals, it just tells us what we already know about spirits." Rei nodded and sighed. I need to find that bison quickly, she thought to herself. Airon stared at her in worry. He knew she was concerned about the spirits and wanted the two worlds to be allied and connected once again. It was her passion, and he knew that very well. Rei being a soulbender meant that she would feel this way towards spirits; the need to save them and let others feel the joy of being friends with a spirit. However, Airon's mother, Ferre, had once told him that because of the rivalry between spirits and humans around the time of Harmonic Convergence, not many spirits grew to like the humans, even after the entire ordeal. The chances are that humans and spirits will co-exist just like that is almost none. Airon had mentioned this to Rei, which she responded that if the spirits didn't want to co-exist, then they simply didn't need to exit into the mortal world. That made sense, yes, but that didn't mean no humans might want to enter the spirit world.

"How long do you think it'll take to find the bison?" Rei asked, sighing. She was very worried, Airon had noticed, but he couldn't exactly understand why. There was no stress placed on her and there was no hurry. The two worlds could not ally with the war going on anyway, so why rush it? Besides there were other things they had to do which was more important; one being Master Bernings last order to them, "Find the last Lion Turtle and prove yourselves to him; that's how you can become a Master Soulbender." Whilst in the library they had researched the almost extinct race to discover they were large enough to carry continents on their backs. As far as Rei and Airon's travels went, they have not found him yet. They positively knew the Lion Turtle didn't carry the Fire Nation, the entire Earth Kingdom (North and South), the Western, Northern or the Eastern Air Temples and the Northern Water Tribe. That left the Southern Water Tribe, the Southern Air Temple, the Patola Mountains and all of the islands like Kyoshi to still be checked. At that time, they had not known the portal was at the North Pole; otherwise they would have searched for the exact location.

"If you're that worried we could go search in the Lower Ring for any clues. There are just too many Dai Li agents here in the upper Ring, and they're also in the Middle RIng." Rei nodded and jumped up. She grabbed a small piece of paper and wrote down that although they said they wouldn't, they would be going out. Rei went and got ready and they soon left, Airon dematerialized.

"I also found Appa's paw print in the Lower Ring," Rei sighed. "And I don't know about Lake Laogai. We'll look into that later. We still have about twenty days left." Rei spoke, keeping her head low and voice soft, otherwise it would look like she spoke to herself. Airon nodded his head.

"I agree. Maybe I should sneak into the palace and listen off some Dai Li agents again, dematerialized this time. What do you think?"  Airon spoke, tilting his head. Rei nodded and Airon smiled and ran a little ahead, passing through humans and objects. He had always loved to do that. Most animals, especially pets, didn't have a lot of running space; but for spirits who can pass through anything at will, they have the entire world as their running space. Rei chuckled to herself and started to speed walk, not wanting to run between all the nobility classes around her. They soon reached the gate that took them to the Middle Ring. They were stopped by a guard who gave her a pass to enter the Upper Ring again since last time they had an escort. They had offered an escort again but she politely declined. They moved on and soon exited the Middle Ring into the Lower Ring. By that time the sun was slowly descending.

"I didn't realize Ba Sing Se is to walk through." Rei commented as they walked through the slums.

"I agree. When we were heading towards the Library, we flew over here. It's a lot larger than from above."  Airon nodded his head and examined the stores around them.

"Come on. I think I remember where the paw print is. Maybe you can sniff something out." Airon stopped and lowered his head in embarrassment. Another difference from normal deer is that their sense of smell was distinctively better than most animals. In general, deer's sense of smell is amazing; the spirit factor just added to that. That's why Airon always snuggled his nose into her hair; so that he would for always know her scent. That's why when Rei rescued him from the Dai Li, he suddenly stopped and went calm. He had smelled her. Master Bernings had once told them that when Rei became a Master Soulbender, that a new way of communication and sensing would pass through the two. All soulbenders had to have a spirit partner, and it was just coincidentally enough that they had found each other even before they knew they needed each other. They made it behind the shop Rei recognized and luckily, it was still there. Airon lowered his head and took a sniff. He raised his head and shook his head.

"Too old." Rei nodded.

"Aang has some hair I found here. We'll ask later," Airon nodded and looked down the alley way. He walked down it and went into the square. Rei followed him with a confused look. "What is it?"

"Stop!" He quickly hissed and she stopped at the corner of the alleyway. She looked into the square with a confused look and her eyes went wide. There, in front of a tea shop, stood Zuko with a girl next to him. She ruffled his hair, which looked combed, and he quickly stopped her.

"It took my uncle ten minutes to do my hair!" Rei chuckled silently to herself before the couple moved out of sight. Rei hesitantly went and stood next to Airon.

"Well that was... interesting." Rei commented, giggling.

"Rei?" She looked up at her name and saw the General Iroh, standing in the doorway to 'Pao Family Tea House'. She laughed sheepishly to herself and thought of her options.

"He seems nice." Airon commented, disrupting her thoughts. He titled his head.

"General Iroh." Rei greeted, bowing her upper body. He laughed.

"Ex-General, Rei. I'm a retired old man now," He laughed at her, as if there was no tension or disruption between them. Rei smiled at him. He was still the same. "Well what are you just standing out there for? Come on in!" He cheered, entering the tea house. She followed and Airon stayed outside, his head poked through the window. It was a small shop. Rei took a seat and Iroh later joined her, a pot of Lychee tea.

"This was always your favourite as a child; I hope it still is." Rei smiled and nodded her head.

"I honestly don't know. I clearly haven't had enough tea in my travels." She politely answered. Iroh was her favourite from the royal family. He was very different from each of them. Of course there was the time where he was out to claim, ironically enough, Ba Sing Se. The invasion failed and Iroh had lost his son, Lu Ten.

"Well then maybe I should make you some Ginseng the next time you come. That's my favourite you know." Iroh laughed, pouring her a cup. She accepted it and took a sip.

"I now understand why it was my favourite." Rei said.

"Oh?" He asked, taking a sip himself.

"It was because you made it." She complemented, causing him to laugh.

"Ah well, I certainly hope I improved." She nodded.

"Definitely," she placed her cup down and giggled as she remembered. "Does the prince have a girlfriend now?" Iroh laughed.

"Only time will tell, but I certainly do hope so. He's so sour lately." He frowned.

"Yes... I'm guessing the reason is behind that eye of his?" She stated, well rather asked. He nodded slowly.

"Yes... You don't know about it, do you? You were gone way before that..." she nodded hesitantly. "Well in a way it's similar to what happened to your brother. It was my fault, really. I took him into a war meeting where they spoke of using human bait. Zuko spoke up against the general who gave the suggestion, thus he disrespected his father and was challenged to an Agni Kai." Rei thought for a moment.

"It wasn't the general who fought him, was it?" Iroh shook his head.

"He was banished afterwards, only to return if he captured the Avatar." Rei frowned, thinking of Aang.

"Prince Zuko was always trying to get attention from Lord Ozai, since Azula was the child protégée. He must be taking this serious." She nodded her head, taking another sip.

"Yes... I worry for my nephew. Oh and its Fire Lord Ozai now." Her eyes went wide.

"Seriously?" He nodded. "I've missed way too much since I left." It dawned upon her.

"So it would seem... If it's not too much to ask, may I know where it is you went?" Here it was. Airon narrowed his eyes as he watched Rei lowered her head slightly.  

"I went... training I guess." She answered after hesitation.

"Training?" He inquired.

"It's... complicated."

"Are you a bender now?" He asked, curiously. She nodded slowly.

"Like I said, complicated." He ended that conversation there, noticing her discomfort.

"So how goes the travels? Seen a lot of places?" She nodded, a smile coming to her face.

"Yes. I've seen so many different types of places that it's unbelievable. What intrigued me most are the plants."

"Ah! Like the different plants you can make tea with! I also found that rather fascinating." He admitted, chuckling.

"I love the taste sensations. Since Airon and I are vegetarians, we always check out different types of fruit; the non-poisonous ones, of course." She chuckled, causing a smile to arise to Airon. Besides himself, Rei didn't really bond with anyone. She was slowly opening up to Aang and his gang, yes, but Rei hadn't seen Iroh for more than seven years. How fast she opened up to him was amazing.

"Oh, living the healthy lifestyle I see? And who's this Airon? Aren't you a little too young for a boyfriend?" Rei laughed loudly at that.

"He's the guy I travel with. I met him the day of Aron's Agni Kai against Dai. It's a little hard to separate us. We're really close, even though he's a bit... different." Airon laughed at her statement.

"How different?" Iroh chuckled.

"Well... he 'aint human." Iroh frowned at her in confusion.

"So... he's an animal?" She nodded.

"Yes, but he talks. It's annoying sometimes." Rei chuckled at his confused face.

"I... see." Iroh frowned, causing Rei to laugh.

"I would love to introduce you to him, if he'll let me." Taking that as a question, Airon decided to respond.

"Why not?" He chuckled, causing to her to smile.

"Is there somewhere we can talk in private? Preferably outside?" Iroh frowned and nodded. They stood up, having finished both of their tea, and they went out the back to an alley way. Airon went around the house to find them there. Iroh chuckled.

"You're not going to mug me, are you?" he asked, sarcastically. Rei laughed and shook her head.

"I want to introduce you to Airon." He materialized, causing Iroh's eyes to widen.

"Wow... I now know what you meant by different. I've never seen such an exotic animal before! Such beauty, such majestic features!" Iroh said, amazed. Rei chuckled at his overdramatic words, but didn't disagree with any of his words. Airon was the most majestic creature in the entire mortal world as far as Rei could tell. Although he was technically only seven years old, he was already taller than almost every human being, and that excluded his antlers. His muscles were clearly defined in his legs; from all the running, Rei guessed. His eyes were a bright sky blue, a level of brightness that can't be achieved by mortals. His antlers were the largest Rei had ever seen on any animal; it was like an ancient tree's branches. She sometimes wondered how he could easily carry them around, as if they weighed nothing. She still remembered when his antlers appeared for the first time. Master Bernings had been impressed by the rate and shape they grew in.

Airon smirked at how awestruck Iroh was. Completely speechless. Airon remembered back to when he was revealed to Aang and the rest. They had similar reactions. Airon moved slowly over towards Iroh, careful to not to freak him out when he regained his composure. Rei smirked at how Airon handled the situation.

"My name is Airon." He introduced. Iroh seemed taken back for a second before he smiled.

"Oh, I am Iroh." He introduced, bowing slightly. Airon bowed his head.

"He's a spirit." Rei explained, Iroh nodding.

"His name is very similar to your brother's." Rei nodded.

"Yes, he's named after him." Iroh frowned, so Airon decided to explain.

"Spirits can choose their own names when their older. I was always told by Rei that I reminded her of her older brother, Aron, so I took on his name. However, I am my own person, thus I placed an 'I' in my name." Iroh nodded, understanding.

"That's rather considerate," He complemented before turning to Rei. "You have a fantastic friend, Rei. You two should never leave each other's side." They both nodded, happily.

"And you shouldn't leave Prince Zuko's; he needs you, even if he doesn't admit it." Iroh nodded.

"My nephew has lost his path. I will help him to get back on the right one," Rei nodded, agreeing. "Now then, what do you say for a game of Pai Sho?" Rei laughed at him. Along with tea, Iroh was always known for his love of the game Pai Sho.

"Sure, why not. Inside I presume?" He nodded and both Rei and Airon followed, Airon dematerialized to pass through the wall and materialized again once inside the abandoned backroom. Iroh went to grab the board and game pieces and while Rei set it up, Iroh made some more tea.

"I made some Spiced tea." Iroh announced, stepping into the room.

"That's a Fire Nation tea, isn't it?" She asked, curiously. He nodded.

"Yes, if that is okay?" she nodded and he sat down. "I wouldn't dare make this tea to an Earth Kingdom citizen; their taste buds are way too weak." Rei laughed at him. Staring at how he poured the tea reminded her of all the incredibly spicy foods she was served as a kid.

"Can I also try?" Airon asked, seated next to the board. Iroh chuckled.

"Of course," He quickly exited and grabbed a bowl before coming back. He poured the tea, the torn pieces of the flamed leaves falling into the bowl and cups. "There, give it a try." Airon lowered his head and took a sip. He immediately recoiled with a shudder.

"Uh, yeah, it's good but... I think I'll pass." Iroh and Rei laughed at him.

"Weakling!" Rei chuckled before taking a sip of her own, the burning liquid made her taste buds shudder in recognition.

"And?" Iroh asked eagerly.

"It's like a trip down memory lane," She admitted. "I still remember all the spicy curries I had eaten as a child. I rather miss it, now that I think about it. Well... I definitely don't miss the meat." Her nose scrunched up in disgust, causing Iroh to laugh at her.

"Well then, how about some Pai Sho?" They started to play and after a few moves they realized Rei didn't exactly know how to play. Iroh explained how the game worked and at the end of it all Rei and Airon teamed up against Iroh, him winning nonetheless.

"You're the definition of a professional no doubt." Rei spoke, shaking her head in disbelief. Iroh laughed at her.

"We better make time to research the game it seems..." Airon spoke. Rei agreed before standing up.

"Well, it's getting late. If it wouldn't be much trouble, can I maybe come tomorrow again? I would like to ask you about my brothers." Iroh froze before nodding.

"Of course. But you do realize my nephew would be here then, do you?" Rei nodded slowly.

"Well I don't think he'll turn me over to my family with his banishment and all." She said softly. Iroh nodded.

"Well then, tomorrow." He said. Rei nodded.

"Goodnight, Ex-General Iroh." He laughed.

"Just Iroh is fine. Goodnight Rei, Airon."

"Have a nice evening, Iroh." Airon spoke before dematerializing and exiting through the walls.

"Goodbye Iroh." Rei waved before stepping out onto the streets. She and Airon began the journey back towards the house. On the way, Rei's arm was suddenly pulled back. She looked up to see Prince Zuko. She bowed her head respectfully.

"Prince Zuko." He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Rei. What are you doing here?"

"If it wouldn't be any trouble, my Prince, I will be back tomorrow evening to continue speaking with your uncle. Might our conversation be postponed until then?" Rei had no idea to what type of speech he would react, so she settled on speaking to him as she did in childhood. Zuko looked like he wanted to argue, but he also looked very tired. He released her arm silently and continued walking. Rei's eyes widened in surprise.

"Didn't expect him to just leave like that, did you?" Rei shook her head. They made their way to an alleyway where Rei climbed onto the materialized Airon. He dematerialized his legs and they flew high over the houses to the Upper Ring.