Author's Note: Here's the third one shot for the tournament, a little later than expected, but this was somehow tricky.

I counted 1130 words without the AN. The prompts I used were:

Easy: (object) trunk

Medium: (taste) chocolate

Hard: quote) "Beware of missing chances; otherwise it may be altogether too late some day" - Franz Liszt

If you read the two one shots before, it is probably clear what is searched (and found) here.

Thanks for all the support with the last one shots, I hope you enjoy this too. Please Review!

Zuko was packing some things when Mai entered the room. He hadn't invited her, in fact they were not a couple anymore since their last argument weeks ago. She seemed to be furious.

"Do you really think you can go like this?", he did not know where from she had that information, but he was not in the mood to discuss with her over and over again. Since he was Fire Lord they broke up and got back together many times, and he grew tired of their ongoing arguments.

"You're not going to keep me from this. If I'm not going, mother will go all by herself, and I can't let that happen, who knows how she will react on whatever awaits me there. Besides, this is family. I can't just go on like every day."

"You two hated each other your whole life. Why should you care for her now?"

"She's still my sister, Mai. I tried to protect her by handling her to the doctors, but it was just getting worse. And now she's dead.", his voice lost his temper, helpless he continued to pack everything he would need in Ba Sing Se.

Mai's fury wasn't gone at all, "She tried to escape, it's her fault, not yours! And you have a country to reign. You can't just go off into the blue for a few days!"

Zuko raised his voice again, "I'm not just going to some holiday! I just need to find out what happened there."

"So you think, there's a chance she might lives?", Mai was now sounding rather sarcastic, if not cynic.

"My uncle always said: Beware of missing chances; otherwise it may be altogether too late some day, and I think, he's probably right about that. If I don't solve this now, I will never."

Mai opened her mouth to continue arguing, but Zuko interrupted her, "Please go now. I need some sleep before I go."

Taken aback Mai left wordless. Zuko finished packing and went to bed, still thinking about their conversation. It had something of a permanent ending. Maybe it was really time to finally move on?

That night he dreamt of strange things. He heard a melody, a female voice singing in an unknown tongue. He also felt the taste of chocolate in his mouth, mixed with that of wine. The world around him changed and the picture got clearer.

The singing female was sitting on a trunk at a clearing in some forest. Next to her was a small pond and she was wearing a blue dress with exactly that kind of blue. Her hair and her skin were completely white. Somehow he felt he was drawn to her, but couldn't make out her face nor could he catch her attention nor understand her song.

After a few steps there seemed to be an invisible wall in front of him. So he stopped, but he wasn't brave enough to speak up, so he just silently sat down and listened to her sad, yet beautiful song.

A few days later he arrived at Ba Sing Se. He immediately spoke to the Earth King and was led to the man who had chased and eventually killed his sister. The Dai Li agent looked nervously from one side to another, and he was right to be afraid, Zuko was boiling inside. If this wouldn't have caused diplomatic issues he would've killed him right at place. But he had to remain calm if he ever wanted to find what he was searching for.

The Dai Li agent led him into the jewel mines where Azula and he had fought the avatar years ago and pointed towards the bottom. "What are you waiting for? Open it already!", Zuko snapped at him. Immediately the whole where Azula had vanished opened up again, only this time with small stairs leading downwards. "This stays open, no matter what, understood?", the Dai Li agent was a single shivering misery by now, and hastily ran away when he saw he wasn't needed anymore.

Zuko lit a small flame on his palm as he went down the stairs, but quickly let go of it when he noticed someone coming from another direction. Moments later that person walked right into him. Zuko quickly rung the other one down and lit up the small flame once again. It was Sokka.

Rubbing the back of his head the other stood up, "I almost thought I'd meet you here. I think we both search for the same. Answers for our questions and proof for our suspicions, right?"

Zuko nodded, "Yes. Do you know what this is?", he moved the flame around and they saw clearly that these tunnels were made by some folk, not earth benders but rather skilled miners.

"I don't know exactly, but I have a suspicion. Unfortunately I was told not to tell you, besides it is that crazy that you might think I would lose my mind."

The last sentence hurt Zuko visibly, Sokka noticed that. But he couldn't change it now, and if the letter was true, the other one wouldn't think of it for too long.

They proceeded into the tunnels silently, Sokka watching the elaborate ceiling most of the time. His unawareness made him jump when they were stopped by a loud "Not a single step further!"

They could only make out a vague scheme holding a bow, aiming at them. The figure was clothed in a black coat and the hood was drawn over the most of the white face. Zuko was taken aback by that too. This scheme almost looked like the woman in his dream.

A second figure ran up to the first one. This was clearly a woman. She wore a dress of a deep green with a white one underneath visible at the ends of the arms and bottom. Her black hair was bound behind her head in a complicated kind of bun, flowing downwards under it.

The young men didn't trust their eyes. This couldn't be, could it?

The woman laid he hand over the bow and the other on the cloaked figure's shoulder, "Micaiah, please don't. They are friends."

The figure backed her hood and the men saw a pale white haired woman with red eyes and pinky ears showing. She raised an eyebrow at the other woman, then shrugged and disappeared into the black, murmuring something like: "if you say so…"

The remaining woman looked after her a few moments and then came up to Zuko and Sokka. Sokka's mouth hang agape. He had never seen Azula this beautiful. She laughed at him before she, what startled him even more, hugged first him and then her brother, who raised an eyebrow at his seemingly unharmed but visibly changed sister.