Author's Note: Yay! The reviews finally started updating again! (I'm rather new to this site when it comes to actually posting so I'm not used to the glitches). It actually got fixed shortly after I posted the chapter about it XD. Oh well. The next chapter is almost done so I'll be posting it soon.

Count as of 9:44 CDT on 7/13/2020:

Toph: 19

Aang: 2

Katara: 10

Sokka: 1

Suki: 3

Other: 2

So I've decided that this story is going to have some Toko (Toph/Zuko) romance in it :) It's clearly a fan favorite and my personal leaning was between that and Zukaang (Aang/Zuko) so I'm going to go with Toko for this tory. There will definitely be some Zukaang stories in my future though. I love that couple too.

For those who care my personal order of Zuko pairings are as followed: Zuko/Aang, Zuko/Sokka, Zuko/Toph, Zuko/Jin, Zuko/Song, Zuko/Katara, Zuko/Suki

Author's Note: A quick thank you to Therecklessone for reminding me to have Aang ask Zuko and Iroh to join them. I meant to have that happen in the last chapter but forgot. It works here too though, so I think we're good. Also, thank you to acquiringwriter for the pointer on note chapters. I'll work on avoiding them from here on. Also, I'm going to try and avoid updating when there isn't a new chapter to post. I do have someone help proofread these chapters now, which helps some. When I do update chapters to fix issues I find I'll try and do it at the same time I post new chapters. I hope that works a little better for anyone watching for updates.

Zuko couldn't remember ever feeling as content as he did sitting and listening to his uncle tell stories around a pot of stew to three avidly listening kids. Maybe he had been back before his mother had vanished, but he wasn't sure. The irony that he was sitting in a Northern Water Tribe house and the three children had been his enemies until a very short while ago was not lost on Zuko, but he couldn't begrudge the fact. It helped that his uncle sounded happier than he'd heard him in a long while as well. He didn't bother to open his eyes as his uncle moved into a second tale at The Avatar's happy urging and a small smile twitched at his lips at his uncle's booming laugh. When had he last let himself relax? He honestly couldn't remember. He'd spent so much time focusing on one goal or another. The last three years had been searching for the Avatar, before that trying to be the perfect prince. Why hadn't he let himself take a break before? His uncle had tried to convince him to many times, but he'd always refused. Now he couldn't help but think himself a fool. This felt amazing, and that was with the chill in the air still biting at his skin. What would it have felt like to rest in one of those many hot springs his uncle so loved? He would have to try that out at some point after this. There was no reason not to after all. Not anymore. He honestly had no idea where they'd go from here, but at that moment he couldn't only revel in the moment of calm, he refused to think too far ahead.

The beginning of a third story was interrupted by the sound of someone entering the room and Zuko opened his eyes to find an old woman in Northern Water Tribe clothing making her way closer. She seemed friendly and the others in the room seemed to be unbothered by her so Zuko just watched her with slight suspicion as she drew near and knelt down between his uncle and The Avatar.

"How are you feeling Prince Zuko?" the woman asked him with a friendly smile. She was clearly trying to be respectful, but Zuko grimaced and looked away.

"Zuko," he said firmly "Just Zuko. I'm not a prince anymore, my father has made that clear." He paused for a moment before answering her question a little awkwardly. "But I feel fine. Thank you." The woman nodded easily at his response.

"That is good to hear," she told him "Would you mind if I check over your injuries once more? I like to be certain my patients are fully recovered before I send them out into the world again. And if you are going to be traveling by boat anytime soon I'd like to be doubly certain." This woman had to be Yugoda then. Zuko knew he needed to have this happen before they could leave, his uncle would never agree to anything else, but he really wasn't comfortable with the idea. Yugoda seemed to guess the cause of at least part of his discomfort and straightened to make a shooing gesture with her hands at The Avatar and his friends "Out out, all of you," she instructed. She turned towards Iroh but seemed to catch how Zuko's shoulders stiffened some and turned away from him once more to make sure the others left the room. Thankfully they didn't argue as they made their way out and soon it was just the three of them left in the room, allowing Zuko to relax some. He was thankful that she didn't draw attention to the change when she turned back to him.

"Now, let's have a look at you," she instructed simply and he gave a slight nod. He held himself stiff as she made her way closer, but didn't try to move away. The more he cooperated the fasted this would be over. He did watch in some fascination as water coated her hands and began to glow before she touched his head. It felt strange and cold as she ran the water along his head and down his neck. She followed it down to his chest and spent extra time on his ribs and he caught himself feeling a bit of surprise that she didn't seem to need him to remove his clothes at all for her to look him over. He was grateful for that fact though. And for how the residue ache in his chest dulled as she worked. From his chest, she moved along to his arms and then down to his hips and legs. He couldn't help but stiffen some as she reached his hips, but she was nothing if not professional and soon she finished up, pulling away with a satisfied nod.

"I'd say you've healed nicely," she said with what sounded like some amount of pride "you are safe to travel as long as you don't do any heavy lifting for the next couple of days." Zuko was no fool. He knew how bad his injuries had been before and he felt practically brand new now. He moved into a more appropriate position with his legs under him and pressed his hands together to give her a respectful bow of thanks.

"Thank you for your care Lady Yugoda. You do me a great honor and I doubt I can ever fully repay you." He was surprised by the bright laugh this brought from the woman and looked up to see her grinning at him.

"Nonsense young man," she replied "You helped us and your uncle is a good man. There is no debt owed." Zuko hesitated uncertainly before giving a slow nod.

"As you say My Lady," he agreed with another bow. He wasn't sure how to take the second bout of laughter, but let it go as he straightened up. She gave him a clearly amused smile as she stood.

"I'll go let the others know that they can come in," she told them easily "And tell Pakku to start setting up your travel plans. You two rest up. You'll have a long day of travels ahead of you."

"Of course, thank you again Yugoda," Zuko couldn't help but notice the lack of title when his uncle spoke to her but kept it to himself as she bowed slightly in reply before leaving the room. He didn't have time to question after that because The Avatar and his friends came back into the room. He couldn't help but notice the slightly uncertain expression on The Avatar's face as he came over. Zuko couldn't think of any reason the boy should be uncertain, but he was sure he'd find out soon enough. And he was right.

"So..." The Avatar started, shifting nervously "I was thinking..." There was another long pause as the boy looked at his two friends, who clearly knew what he was going to say, but wanted him to be the one to say it. Sokka looked somewhat put upon though Katara only looked thoughtful. After several moments The Avatar continued "Well I'm going to need a firebending teacher at some point...and you two are the only two firebenders I know that...well, don't want to kill or capture me. You know, anymore." Zuko blinked at him in complete shock. He had to be hearing things, but the boy kept going. "So I was just thinking that, maybe, you two might want to travel with us? We're going to head out once I finish mastering waterbending and you said you didn't really have any plans so..." This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening. They'd barely stopped being enemies and The Avatar wanted them to start traveling with him and teach him firebending? That was full-on treason. It was one thing to not be able to go home, but help the top enemy of his country?

Iroh couldn't help but smile at the well-meaning offer, but he could tell without even looking at his nephew that this would be a step too far. Zuko would need time to adjust to his current situation before he would even consider something like this. From the silence, he could guess that Zuko was in shock so he took it upon himself to answer.

"Thank you Aang," he said warmly, noting in amusement how his nephew looked at him in surprise at the use of the boy's name "for your very generous offer, but I fear we must decline. My nephew and I need to find our crew and take some time for ourselves. And besides, you still need to master earth before you can start learning fire. Perhaps if you find us after you've mastered earth we can discuss it again? We'll likely settle somewhere in the Earth Kingdom. Somewhere small enough not to be a target, but large enough that we won't be too out of place." He could practically feel his nephew's relief beside him but didn't look at him, instead, he took in the disappointment on Aang's face.

"Oh. Ok," Aang sighed "I guess that makes sense." He paused before brightening. He really was a happy child "But you're right. Maybe we'll find you once I master earthbending. That would be fun." Iroh nodded his agreement with a warm smile, noting the slight relaxing to Sokka's shoulders as well.

"It would be fun," he agreed easily "I'm sure the fates will bring us together again if it is meant to be." Those words seemed to brighten the boy's smile even further, though Sokka simply rolled his eyes. Deciding to change subjects and help his nephew relax again Iroh settled back "Now, I believe we were interrupted before I could get into the story of the dragon and the turtle-duck." He felt a rush of contentment as the children moved to sit across from him again, clearly willing to listen. And he couldn't help but notice how Zuko's shoulders relaxed and he closed his eyes to listen as well. It brought joy to his heart to see him so relaxed. They stayed that way for a long while, sharing stories. After a time he managed to convince the other children to share some stories of their own. The Water Tribe siblings had stories very different from the ones he knew and the young avatar had a wide variety of stories from long ago, even some Fire Nation stories lost to time and war. Iroh made sure to take note of each tale, storing them within his mind and heart. He did notice that his nephew listened intensively to these stories too. He was sure that the others thought his boy wasn't paying attention, but Iroh knew him better. They passed the time this way for several hours until Pakku returned to the room.

"Your boat is ready," Pakku said simply as soon as he entered the room "We have supplies packed up onto it as well. It's probably best that you leave as soon as the tides are good to depart." Iroh can easily read the disappointment on the expressions of all four children in the room, though Zuko hid his behind a typical, for him, scowl and looking away.

"You need to leave already?" Aang asked sadly.

"It seems so," Iroh replied with an easy smile "But don't worry. I'm sure we'll see each other again."

"Right," Katara agreed with a sharp nod as she patted Aang's back reassuringly "We've just got to have faith. We'll all be fine and we'll see each other again someday. We'll be traveling the Earth Kingdom soon enough. I'm sure we'll run into each other."

"Right," Sokka agreed, though Iroh got the feeling that the boy was more trying to cheer up his friend than really agreeing with the idea. It did seem to work though, Aang's expression brightened and he nodded.

"You're right," Aang agreed far more cheerfully, leaping to his feet with a small gust of air "We'll see each other again. And by that time I bet I'll have earthbending down pat." Zuko huffed a laugh at that, though he tried to cover it with a cough, and stood himself.

"Right, well. You three stay safe." It was obvious he was rather uncertain how to interact with the other three even after the time they spent talking. Though, Iroh did have to admit that Zuko hadn't exactly done much talking during the time either. The poor boy simply did not know how to interact with others close to his age. To help take the pressure off his nephew Iroh stood as well and gave the other three a slight bow.

"Yes, be careful, all of you. I expect to see each of you at a later date, alive and well." As the siblings stood up Aang smiled and bowed, a proper Fire Nation bow at that, eyes warm and friendly.

"Of course, you both stay safe as well," the sincerity in the young monk's voice and expression was obvious and made Iroh smile at him as well. Even Zuko relaxed enough to give a slight smile and formal bow in return.

"Yeah, what he said," it seemed Sokka wasn't much better at words than Zuko was "Just, without the bowing. I don't do bowing." His sister rolled his eyes at that and swatted him on the back of the head before turning to give them both a slight bow of her own. It wasn't Fire Nation, but it was clearly respectful.

"Don't mind him. Sokka's got a big head sometimes," she grinned as she straightened back up "He's just worried that if he bows it'll unbalance him and he'll fall over." Sokka's indignant cry managed to cover the quiet snort of amusement that Zuko was clearly trying to hide as he turned his head away so Iroh let out a loud laugh himself.

"So I see," he chuckled merrily before smiling at the three of them "Well, we had best be off. We don't want to overstay our welcome. Cheif Arnook has been very gracious to let us stay here this long." With another bow, which was mirrored by his nephew beside him, Iroh turned and made his way over to Pakku, who immediately turned and began leading them out the door.

"I expect to see you both at the training grounds in one hour," Pakku called back into the room at the two training waterbenders "Don't be late." Iroh couldn't help but chuckle as he overheard Sokka grumbling about being ignored, but soon the voices of the three young fighters were lost behind them as they followed the master waterbender out of the building and down towards the ocean.