Greetings, ladies and gentlemen! I have recently hit a writer's block on my Naruto fanfic The Beginning. I heard from a reliable source that writing another story well help to get my head straight again. So I decided to write a story that has been in my head for quite some time, and is probably the cause of my writer's block. This is an Avatar: The Last Airbender story, and will be a bit different from The Beginning both in tone and writing style. Well, enough of my ranting. Please enjoy!!

Disclaimer-I do not own Avatar. Brian and Mike do.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

As the couple watched the sunset, the reality of things began to set in. The war was over, and peace would reign once again. Katara sighed wistfully as she leaned a bit more on her boyfriend's shoulder. Despite his size, Aang was always so strong...

"Avatar!!"

The couple jerked their heads simultaneously towards the direction they heard the shout come from. And their face froze in shock. Standing just down the road was a man probably no taller than Zuko. His light brown hair swayed with the breeze, a pair of blue-grey eyes flickering behind his bangs. A thin yet round jaw supported a slight grimace, and what appeared to be a war-torn traveler's outfit and cloak caked with mud and blood adorned his lithe, muscular figure. The picture was completed by a battered old walking staff, which the man was using to support most of his weight on. The man spoke again as his grimace turned to relief, his voice dry and raspy.

"Thank the spirits..."

And with that his eyes rolled up and he collapsed, his staff falling next to him with an ominous clanking noise. An instant later Katara and Aang were at the man's side. As Katara began to apply her waterbending to heal the man, she was shocked to find that the man was actually a boy no older than Zuko. She also noted that the teen's body was riddled with cuts, bruises, and burns. But that paled in comparison to his internal injuries, which were so extensive that Katara eyes teared as she realized that the boy probably wouldn't live to see tomorrow.

Sensing the commotion, the others in Iroh's tea shop rushed outside. Seeing the crumpled form, Sokka immediately took on the role of coordinator.

"Suki, Mai, go inside and get the medical supplies! Iroh, you fetch the doctor. Toph, separate the section of stone he's laying on from the road so me and Zuko can carry him in without moving him too much."

The group quickly sprang into action. It was hard to argue with Sokka when he used his 'commander voice'. Iroh dashed down the road while Suki and Mai hurried back inside. A stomp from Toph and some muscle from Zuko and Sokka put the dying man on the main table in Iroh's tea shop. Katara once again started her healing, though she figured it was hopeless. Her watery blue eyes wondered to the teen's face as she wondered who he was and what he wanted.

A moment later Iroh came in with the doctor. The physician, a former Earth Army medic in his mid-fifties with graying hair and defined features, quickly rushed to his patient's side. Katara stared in awe as the older man quickly and efficiently wrapped the boy's injuries in medicated bandages. The silence in the room was overwhelming, only interrupted by the doctor's gruff demands for medical supplies and one of the boy's ribs being snapped back into place. The sound of that made everyone but the doctor wince. Katara could only do as she was told, while the others simply observed the spectacle.

Sokka, Zuko, Iroh, Mai and Toph all watched with neutral expressions, though Sokka's body language told everyone how worried he was. Suki leaned on Sokka for support, her face showing that she was clearly concerned. Sokka responded by wrapping his arm around her waist in a comforting gesture, an action Zuko repeated with Mai. After nearly half an hour, the old doctor straightened his posture with an audible crack, wiped his brow, and announced that the young stranger was going to pull through.

All the tension in the room evaporated as clear signs of relief appeared on everyone's faces. Katara's face reddened a little as the doctor praised her immediate treatments, while Aang looked on proudly. As the doctor moved on to talk to Iroh, the rest of the group crowded around the unconscious boy. With all his wounds dressed the teen resembled a half-completed mummy. The teens face now had more color than before, and his chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm.

Iroh cleared his throat, telling the teens to give the patient some space. He spoke in that sagely manner that he was famous for.

"The doctor said that the boy needs plenty of rest and probably won't wake up for at least a week. Until then he will stay in the back." He then turned to face the waterbender of the group, "Katara, the doctor said to periodically use waterbending to heal his chest area. Apparently, that broken rib punctured a lung. Now Zuko, give me a hand."

With that Iroh and his nephew carefully hoisted the boy and carried him out of sight, leaving the rest of the group alone to discuss the stranger.

"You do you think he is?" Katara asked.

"I dunno," Aang muttered, a look of confusion on his face, "I've never seen him before, but he seemed so, so..."

"Familiar," Suki finished.

"Yeah, me too," Sokka interjected, rubbing his chin in thought, "and judging from his injuries it looked like he tried to take on the entire Fire Nation."

"And they were already healing," Katara added, "Meaning that they weren't recent. But with those internal injuries I'm surprised he was still conscious, let alone mobile."

The conversation continued on like this until the sun had left the sky, and they all decided to turn in for the night. Little did they know the shock they were to receive in the next couple of days...