AN: Hi all! This is my first fanfiction. Ever. I've always been a writer and when I read a book/watch a show I sometimes have an itch to write a scene that didn't happen, but I've always sort of had an aversion towards fanfic cuz I like coming up with my own works. I think it's uncreative and unoriginal to write as a fan… but I've sort of come to believe differently. Basically this is a real guilty pleasure of mine. : D

This is a Zutara centric fic because after watching the entire series for a second time I was left in a depressed funk over the two not getting together.

Yeah, I talk too much. I'll get to the important stuff.

This takes place between Firebending Masters and Boiling Rock.

I'm lame and don't want to go through all the prelude stuff, so basically Sokka, Toph, Aang, Katara and Zuko left the Western Air Temple to head back to the Misty Palms Oasis to try and locate members of the White Lotus. While there, some terrible things happen…

Without further adieu, I present 'Meaning'!

Harsh sunlight battered the earth relentlessly with its heat. If not for the shoes that Zuko wore the heated sand would have burned his feet. It kicked up as he walked and his feet left misshapen footprints in the shifty material. It was torturous out here in the greatest desert in the kingdom, even for a firebender. If he had any choice in the matter Zuko would not have been here at all let alone on foot and by himself.

With a sigh he stopped and looked up at the sky through his visor. The sky was a vibrant blue, but the visor prevented the exiled fire prince's vision from being damaged. He'd manage to purchase one of these in the small town called the Misty Palms Oasis located on the fringes of the desert. It had turned out to be a smart idea; as had bringing his dark hooded cloak. It protected his pale skin from the sun's harmful rays.

He stood on top of a dune and looked around him at the surrounding desert. He was searching for something. Someone. The others were out there too, looking for their missing member. She had been taken by sandbenders when the group was passing through a part of the desert. She must have gotten up during the night for some reason, for in the morning when the rest of them awoke she was missing. The inspirational, strong, stubborn, mother of the group. Katara.

Toph was riding with Sokka on Appa, Aang was searching on his glider, and he was down here, on foot. The group had left the Duke, Teo and Haru back at the Western Air Temple when they had left for the desert. It had been determined that it was safer and easier for all of them to split up. It was also basically the same reason that Zuko was on the ground while the others soared through the air. They covered more ground, and Zuko was tough enough to take the harsh desert conditions.

While he wondered how they were ever going to find Katara he tugged on the bandages on his arms to tighten them. They were like the bandages the sandbenders wore and kept his skin safe from the harsh light.

After giving the desert one last sweep with his eyes he headed down the dune and began to walk once more.

Part of him hoped that he would find Katara first. If he rescued her then she might be more willing to trust him. But then if she had purposely wandered off, she'd just be angry at him for finding her… Zuko didn't think that such was the case however. It was much more likely that she'd been kidnapped. She was too loyal to Aang, her brother and Toph to leave the group. Zuko… he knew she still didn't trust him, but he wanted her too. He couldn't quite explain it, but he had felt a connection with her in the Cave at Ba Sing Se and he wanted to feel it again. He wanted her to trust him.

He'd find Katara, and he'd save her from whatever had captured her.