I don't claim to own any aspect of Avatar: The Last Airbender. This work has been written without permission and is not intended for any profit.

Truth be told, I've actually wanted to do this for a long time. There are probably dozens of other versions of this exact same concept from various authors, but I've decided to finally throw my own ideas into the mix.

Basically what this is is a collection of short stories. My aim with these stories is to tell tales of what happens to some of our favorite (and not-so-favorite) characters outside of what we see in the series. That being said, Aang and friends will most likely appear very, very little, if at all. So don't expect to see too much of them (barring some exceptions, of course). Most of these stories will be unrelated one-shots, though some may be two to three chapters. Nothing too long. This is going to be a fun little exercise in spontaneity for me; nothing's really been planned out ahead of time. I'm writing what comes to mind as I go here, so we'll see how it turns out.


A Walk Around the World

Prologue: The Long Road

The day was an unusually warm one, it seemed, and Firelord Zuko began to find his ceremonial robes a bit uncomfortable. They were superfluous, that was for sure, but did they have to make them so unbearably hot? He considered discarding the outer garments in favor of his traditional crimson tunic. Was that proper? He was the firelord, after all. Then again, who was going to say no to him?

He smiled as he unceremoniously undid the broach around his neck and let the cumbersome robes fall into a nearby chair. An attendant would pick them up and bring them to his quarters later; he was sure. He was the firelord, after all.

Without giving a whole lot of thought as to where he was going, Zuko found himself stepping out onto a nearby balcony. The precipice overlooked the adjacent Fire Nation town; from his vantage point Zuko could see the buildings and houses surrounding the palace. He saw their inhabitants as well, each one pushing and bustling through their own daily minutia, each one absorbed in the microcosm of their life and the lives of their loved ones, each one not just a faceless, disposable soldier, but now a real person, with a real life and real dreams.

The sight caught Zuko off-guard for some reason. True, he'd seen the spectacle many times before…but had he actually seen it? Had he actually cared to look into the face of his people and address them before this? No, he mused, I suppose not. Until quite recently, the only thing Zuko had discerned in a conversation was whether or not the person talking to him had an arrow on his forehead.

"I thought I'd find you here."

The interjection startled the young firelord and he turned around rather quickly. Zuko caught sight of his "attacker" and eased up considerably. "Mai?"

She looked him over, though all any outsider would have seen were her eyes shifting downward for a split second. On a clear day. "You look dignified," she quipped. Mai was garbed in ceremonial dress, as Zuko had been. But if the heat was bothering her, she didn't do much to give it away.

"I was warm," he said lamely.

"Um…this is the Fire Nation, right?" A faint smile played on the edges of Mai's pale lips.

Zuko didn't bother to reply. Instead he shifted his gaze back out onto the city sprawled out before him.

"Come on," Mai prodded, approaching the firelord and silently slipping her left arm around his waist. "What's on your mind?"

Instinctively, automatically, Zuko returned the simple gesture. "It just feels unreal," he finally said after a period of awkward silence.

"What?"

"This entire situation," he continued. "I mean, here I am, and with everything I could have ever wanted." He squeezed Mai's hand as he said this. "And I didn't have to capture the Ava—Aang to get it."

Mai in turn nestled her head into Zuko's chest and said, "Why are you worried? You made the right choice."

"Maybe," he consented. "But sometimes I feel like I don't deserve it. I'm not ready."

Mai squeezed Zuko's hand back. "You're new," she said simply. "You've been firelord for what, three months now? I think you expect too much of yourself."

The firelord paused and let her words sink in and take hold upon him. As he did so a cool, gentle breeze cut through the warm air like the keen edges of his broadswords and he shivered a bit. Perhaps summer was finally releasing its smothering grip on the land and letting autumn take its place. And as he continued to look down upon the people, he realized that Ozai's grip had faded as well. He would have to be there to take its place, whether he was ready or not.

"Let's go back inside," Mai prodded suddenly, snapping Zuko out of his introversion.

"Why?" Zuko wondered aloud.

"Because it's raining, silly."

Sure enough, just as soon as Zuko gazed upward to confirm this phenomenon a raindrop landed square in his scarred eye, causing him to blink furiously for a moment. The water seemed to clear his head, wash away the remnants his father. "All right," he said, half laughing. "Let's go."

As the two made their retreat, Zuko couldn't help but think about how he had gotten here. It had been a rough three-year journey for the young firelord…he'd scoured the world looking for the Avatar, only to join forces with his former prey to defeat his father and reclaim the throne of the Fire Nation. He had taken a walk around the world and seen its people and its places. On the trailing winds of that thought, his mind turned to his friends and everyone he'd met along the way, and what their walks must have been like. He smiled as he walked hand-in-hand with Mai back into the safe confines of the palace. Their paths had been intersecting ever since their childhood. Zuko could only hope that they would continue to walk together long into the future, all the way to the end of the dusty road where the sapphire waves met pristine sands and the warm winds formed a soft yet unshakeable embrace and the sunsets were brilliant and eternal.