A/N: Happy Christmas everyone, or any other Holiday you might celebrate, OR, if you don't celebrate a Holiday, happy family time, and especially to those of you (still) reading! :) There is... really no excuse for me not updating this for however long it's been. I'll just say that I'm really sorry, and I hope to start updating again pretty frequently. Also, for Alum-readers: I updated the last six chapters a little bit, so if you'd like, you may want to go back and reread them. I'd also like to post a reminder that, while I get further along into the story, I will be trying to add more detail, but rather, more of my own detail: I won't always be recapping the whole episode(s), only the scenes I find to be important somehow to this overall piece. It is assumed that readers of this fic have already seen ATLA, and so I'm simply rewriting some of the scenes so that I might put my own spin on it, i.e., specific thoughts going through Zuko's and Katara's minds, new little scenes, etc. So, I guess you could think of this fic as a sort of companion fan-piece? I mean, it never hurts to re-watch/reference old episodes while reading this fic ;) As always, enjoy!
P.S.: I don't claim to own any of the characters, the storyline, or any part of ATLA. I'm simply using them for my own entertainment, and not for profit-making purposes! I do claim to be a die-hard Zutarian, though ;D
P.P.S: Review, if you please. It would make my day :) A late present from you to me?
A few mornings later, Katara woke to find the boys nowhere in sight. Figuring they couldn't be too far, she quickly relieved herself, then set out to look for them. Eventually, she came upon them searching feverishly through bushes and brush. "Did someone lose something?" she asked curiously. "No, we found something!" replied Aang excitedly, rummaging through a nearby bush. Before she could ask what it was they were looking for, Sokka bent over and picked something up. When he stood back up, Katara saw in amazement that he was holding none other than a spear crafted by her own tribe. "It's burned," he muttered, sounding perplexed. Then, he quickly turned and rubbed the tree parallel to where the spear had been with his hand. "There was a battle!" he said breathlessly. "Water Tribe warriors ambushed a group of firebenders... The firebenders fought back, but the warriors drove them down this hill..." His voice trailed off, and he ran down the hill behind them. Katara followed, with Aang closely behind. They finally reached a beach before stopping. "So...then what happened?" asked Aang. "I dunno," said Sokka, sounding crestfallen. "The trail ends here." No, that can't be it... I know those were Water Tribe weapons... Katara thought frantically. Then, something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. A boat! Joyously, she pointed and cried, "Wait, look!" "It's one of our boats!" Sokka agreed, and they both ran toward it. "Is this... Dad's boat?..." she asked hopefully. She had never learned to tell the difference in the boats; it just wasn't "her thing". However, Sokka had always had the dream of following in their dad's footsteps and becoming Chief warrior of their tribe when he was older, and so hehad to know the difference in boat designs, no matter how minuscule "No," Sokka said, causing her spirits to sink slightly, "but it's from his fleet. Dad was here." They both stared up at it, little smiles playing on their faces. Perhaps this isn't Dad's boat, but... Maybe if we find the passengers of this thing, we can get closer to finding out what happened to him.
After finally giving into Uncle Iroh's nagging, Zuko sat with the old man in a quiet room. "You are over-stressed and over-worked, Prince Zuko. A little rest and relaxation will do you some good. And tea. Tea will do you good as well." He listened as his Uncle sipped his own tea and smacked his lips appreciatively, before sighing quietly and holding out his own tea cup. "See, Prince Zuko?" his Uncle said, pouring him some tea. "A moment of quiet is good for your mental well-being." Frowning, not wanting to admit that his Uncle might be right, Zuko lifted the cup to his mouth, when suddenly there was a great lurch, and the scalding tea was splashed all over his head and face. WHY DOES THIS KIND OF THING ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?! Growling, he flicked his now-wet ponytail off his face, slammed his tea cup down, and stomped outside. A dark-haired girl astride an odd-looking animal met his sight. Zuko immediately didn't like her, and not simply because she had just landed on his ship without permission atop that strange beast, but because there was something about her, something he couldn't quite put his finger on... Perhaps because she seemed too perceptive, scarily so... Or perhaps it was the vibe she gave off that she would do ANYTHING to get her job done... He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew he didn't like her. There was also the fact that his Uncle was staring at her with far too much... "interest"... That was just creepy."Get back!" the girl ordered his soldiers. To his annoyance, they backed up. "We're after a stowaway." "There are no stowaways on my ship," Zuko told her angrily. In response, her stupid thing took a chunk out of his ship, tossed it away carelessly, then stuck its head in the makeshift hole and began sniffing around. To his surprise, a filthy man did come running out of the hole, but was quickly zapped by the creature's tongue, at which point he fell to the ground like a stone. "He's paralyzed," said Zuko in astonishment. "Only temporarily," the girl said coolly "The toxins will wear off in about an hour, but by then, he'll be in jail, and I'll have my money." He watched her carelessly toss the fugitive onto the back of her animal. "But how did you find him on my ship?" he asked curiously. "My shirshu can smell a rat a continent away," she replied, patting the ugly beast fondly. With that, she climbed back onto the thing. So, it's called a shirshu. "Well, I'm impressed!" he heard his Uncle murmur. He grimaced, and heard the girl whip her shirshu off the ship. "Very impressed..." Zuko glared disgustedly at his Uncle, who was dazedly gazing after the girl. He would never understand some of his tastes as long as he lived.
When night fell, Katara lay thinking for a little while. It's been years since we've seen Dad. If we were to find him anytime in the next week... I would be overjoyed, definitely, but... I don't know how I'd react... I mean, would I start crying? Would I run and hug him? What would be the correct thing to do? And what if these years away have changed him? She finally drifted off into a restless sleep. However, she was very rudely awoken only a few hours later by Sokka crying, "Bato?!" Not believing her ears when she finally registered what she was hearing, she quickly opened her eyes and sat up. Sure enough, there was Bato, one of her father's best friends. "Bato!" she exclaimed. "Sokka! Katara! It is so good to see you two!" he chuckled, holding his arms open. She and Sokka didn't hesitate to run and hug him. "You've grown, so much!" Finally, they all released their hug. "Where's Dad?" Sokka asked hopefully. "Is he here?" she asked as well. "No, he and the other warriors should be in the Eastern Earth Kingdom by now," he responded. She felt her shoulders droop. Well... at least you know he didn't die here. A chilling breeze blew past them all, causing them to shiver. "This is no place for a reunion. Let's get inside," Bato suggested, putting an arm around her and Sokka each. She silently agreed and followed.
"I need you to find someone." Zuko held up the Water Tribe girl's necklace. He had been right after all that it would come in handy. After he had learned that the shirshu tracked people down by smell, he had been thinking deeply, trying to figure out how to use its skill to find the Avatar. Without paying much attention to what he was doing, he had looked down to realize he was rolling the necklace in his fingers. This necklace! he had thought to himself excitedly. Of course! It must still have some of the girl's scent on it. And so, here he was, presenting the necklace to the bounty hunter girl ("June", she had finally introduced herself as) and her ugly shirshu. "What happened? Yourgirlfriend run off on you?" she sneered. He swept the insult aside. "It's not the girl I'm after. It's the bald monk she's traveling with." "Whatever you say," June said sounding unconvinced, a small smirk still on her face. Zuko felt his right cheek burning a little bit in what he was positive was anger, but he was still glad that it was dark enough outside to cover it up. He didn't need more "evidence" for her to make fun of. "If you find them, I'll consider the damage to my ship paid for." "Hah," she snorted condescendingly, climbing back onto her shirshu. "Forget it." "Plus we'll pay your weight in gold!" Uncle Iroh quickly offered. Zuko wasn't totally sure if it was to help him out, or if it was just because he didn't want to see her go. Thankfully, this piqued June's interest. "Make it your weight," she murmured, poking Uncle Iroh, "and we got a deal." To Zuko's horror, his Uncle began laughing heartily as if the girl had just told the greatest joke on the planet. "You got it!" He resisted the urge to put his face in his hand. "Get on!" she called behind her, halfway to her beast, and Zuko noticed in surprise that she had snatched the necklace from his grasp, waving it in front of the shirshu. He didn't know why he felt a bit anxious now that it wasn't in his grasp; it wasn't like it was anything important to him. Nevertheless, he worried about it.
Sometime the next day, they stopped in yet another village. "Why are we stopping?" Zuko asked in irritation. He noticed an older woman dressed in elaborate robes, her graying hair done in a loose braid down her back, eyeing him knowingly. Her look made him shiver slightly; he could tell she was very perceptive, much too perceptive, but not in the same way as June. He couldn't quite explain it. The look she was giving him wasn't quite hostile, though. "Because the girl must have spent a lot of time here," June replied, snapping him out of his observations. "We have no time for this!" he growled, and he snatched the necklace out of her grasp, jumping down to wave it in front of the shirshu, then narrowly avoiding its lashing tongue. "Hey, watch it!" he cried in a panic. "Oh look, he likes you," June commented sarcastically as his Uncle laughed. He bit back an angry retort. The old woman who had been watching him before stepped forward and asked his Uncle in a quiet, pleasant voice, "Care to hear your fortune, handsome?" So she's a fortuneteller... I've heard it's a bunch of phooey anyway. Zuko still couldn't quite shake the feeling she gave him, though. "At my age, there is only one big surprise left," Uncle Iroh answered back just as pleasantly, "and I'd just as soon leave it a mystery." Zuko saw them smile at each other once more before June whipped her pet again and sent them all hurtling out of the village.
"For Sokka, the Mark of the Wise. The same mark your father earned." Katara beamed for her brother as she watched Bato draw the mark on his forehead. Then he came to her. She could feel her heart pounding in anticipation. "For Katara, the Mark of the Brave. Your courage inspires us." She felt as if she were glowing. Then, it was Aang's turn. "And for Aang, the Mark of the Trusted. You are now an honorary member of the Water Tribe." Katara smiled and went to hug him, but then she heard him say, "I can't." Taken aback, she laughed, "Of course you can!" "No. You can't trust me," Aang murmured, looking guilty beyond belief. Oh no, Aang... What did you do?... "Aang, what are you talking about?" she asked apprehensively. She saw him reach into his robe and pull out a balled-up piece of paper. "A messenger gave this to me for Bato." Hardly daring to believe it, she snatched the paper from his hand and unrolled it. As soon as she realized what it was, she gasped and covered her mouth, feeling her face go pale. "You have to understand, I was afraid you wouldn't-" "THIS IS THE MAP TO OUR FATHER!" she heard Sokka yell in shocked anger. "YOU HAD IT THE WHOLE TIME?! HOW COULD YOU?!" She heard him take a steadying breath. "Well, you can go to the North Pole on your own. I'm going to find Dad." Sokka, we agreed we were going to help Aang on his quest, Katara thought. Yes, but that was before this little bit of trickery, another, angrier voice in the back of her head replied. "Now Sokka, I think you should-" started Bato calmly. "Katara, are you with me?" Sokka asked her. We did say we were going to help Aang, but... Sokka's my brother. And just how I couldn't lose him to death, I can't lose him by going separate ways, either. After a tense moment, she brokenly replied in a quiet voice, "I'm with you, Sokka." And with that, she turned and followed Bato and her brother.
"So this is your girlfriend," jeered June. "No wonder she left. She's way too pretty for you." She is kind of pretty, I guess... Wait, no! I mean... Urgh...! Zuko crossly jumped down from the beast, putting it out of his mind for the moment. "Where is he? Where's the Avatar?" he snapped, sounding angrier than he had intended to. The girl stared at him, frightened. "We split up. He's long-gone," the brother retorted, just as angrily. "How stupid do you think I am?" he asked challengingly. "Pretty stupid," the boy smirked. "RUN!" The pair made it only a few steps before the shirshu lashed them with its tongue, and they barreled over. "What're we s'posed to do now?" he spat in annoyance. As they rode into the nearby Abbey again a few minutes later, Zuko grabbed onto the girl's shirt with one hand to make sure she didn't fall off the beast. She won't be any use to anyone if she falls off and gets hurt or killed, he reasoned.
As he lay there a little while later, temporarily paralyzed and getting a headache from the previous barrage of perfume, Zuko noticed his Uncle laying on the ground, hugging June close to him. A nagging suspicion began to creep over him. "Uncle... I didn't see you get hit by the tongue..." "Shhh..." his Uncle whispered cheerfully as June glared with what she could of her face. He gagged internally. What does he see in her?...
Riding Appa, many apologies and reconciliations later, Aang told Katara, "I wish I could give you a little piece of home, Katara. Something to remind you-" "I'll be okay," she replied. Not the mushy stuff again Aang, please. "Still! Just, a little trinket... Maybe something like... This?" To her amazement, he held out her mother's necklace. "Aang! How'd you get that?" she asked excitedly, grabbing it and tying it on, checking and rechecking several times to make sure it wouldn't fall off again. I can't lose this EVER again... Next time, I might not get it back... "Zuko asked me to be sure I got it to you," he joked back. "Oh, that's so sweet of Zuko. Would you give him a kiss for me when you see him?" She was definitely joking, but she blushed slightly in spite of herself. "Sure!" replied Aang. Giving a silent sigh, Katara leaned forward and gave Aang a kiss on the cheek. He did get my necklace back for me. The least I can do is give him a little kiss on the cheek. A little while later though, she did have to wonder and thank the spirits that Zuko, for whatever reason, hadn't gotten rid of her necklace.
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