Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, because if I did, Zuko would bust out into mad tango. Hey, if Mr. Dante Basco could do it, so can our favorite Fire Prince.

Chapter 8: The Reunion

"Here we are guys! The Earth Kingdom city of Omashu!"

"Aang. We know. We've been here." Sokka pointed out.

The monk boy sulked. "That doesn't mean I can't keep saying it," he pouted.

Katara rolled her eyes. "Okay well, whatever. Let's go inside and see King Bumi."

Aang perked up. "Yeah! Bumi! Oh boy. Hey Zuko, you're gonna get a kick out of him!"

Slumped in the saddle, looking languidly at the puffy white clouds drifting across the azure sky, Zuko drawled, "I am?"

"Sure! Everyone loves Bumi, isn't that right, guys?"

Sokka cleared his throat and looked awkwardly off into the distance while his sister pretended not to hear. As usual, Aang remained unfazed. "Yeah, they think he's cool too."

"General Iroh!" a trim, stiff-looking soldier ran up to the old man. "We found this."

Iroh stared dumbly at the tattered piece of cloth in his hands. It was Zuko's tunic, the one he had been wearing the day he was attacked by the Avatar's bison. The fabric was ripped where the bison's teeth had worn through and completely slit on one side with a sharp object – a knife or a dagger, Iroh thought weakly. There was dried blood in spots on the body of the shirt and in a large patch along the back of the neckline.

The entire camp held its breath as Iroh pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned audibly. "Sir?" the soldier offered.

Iroh looked up into the sky and waved the man off. Worry further deepened the creases in his weathered face – the General looked old, very old.

He focused back on the tunic in his hands, tracing the place where the knife had sliced cleanly through the cloth. "Prince Zuko is not dead."

The gathered assembly of men deflated in a collective sigh of relief.

"But he's not all right. This shirt was cut off of him, most likely to tend to some severe injury. He is wounded and lost, and possibly in the capture of hostiles."

"What…what should we do then, General?" one of the younger soldiers piped.

Iroh clenched the shredded shirt in his fist. "We continue searching. Detain and question anyone you come across. Any news is to be brought straight to me. Prince Zuko is bound to turn up sometime, somewhere."

The men began to disperse, saddling up their rhinos and packing away supplies for the day's search. Iroh remained where he was, staring at a patch of ground and worrying the tunic lightly in his hands. "Hang on, Prince Zuko," he said lowly, "I'm coming for you."

"BAAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Eee-HEE-hee-hee!"

Aang, Katara, and Sokka gawped in complete bewilderment as Zuko slapped King Bumi on the back. Undaunted, the geriatric ruler gave Zuko a cuff that sent the young man sprawling, still guffawing, into the dirt.

"Oh…oh ho ho…heehee," Zuko gasped, wiping tears from his eyes. "That was good, that was good! 'Kangaroo Island…hoppin'…' heh heh!"

King Bumi beamed. He turned to Aang. "Where did you pick this one up, Aang? He's got such great taste!"

Aang forced a smile on his face. "Uh – "

" – Oh, oh! I've got a good one for you, King Bumi!" Zuko cut in.

Katara threw her hands up in disgust, but the Omashuian ruler couldn't have looked more delighted. "Go on!" he urged.

Zuko grinned and cleared his throat. "Okay, you ready for this? All right…what happens to kings when they get old and are ready to die?"

"I give up!" Bumi cackled.

"Trade really bad puns with an exiled Fire Prince, both of them being completely off their rockers?" Sokka whispered to Katara.

The said Prince, unaware of Sokka's derision, paused for dramatic effect and blurted, "Old kings don't die…they just get THRONE away!"

"PAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Bumi exploded, rolling around the ground in his purple and chartreuse robes. His cap, adorned with ten gorgeous feathers from the colorful Budgie-chicken and one red, ripe tomato, lay on the throne, completely forgotten. The king was beside himself with mirth; not for the last half-century had anyone exchanged such witty and hilarious banter with him.

Katara coughed conspicuously, and said, "Sooo…if you two are done losing your minds for the moment, could we get to the issue at hand here?"

Chirruping in assent, Aang nodded vigorously. "I'm ready to learn Earthbending, Bumi, really!"

Still chortling, King Bumi wiped the tears from his eyes and sighed. "Ohh yes. Yes. Yes! All right! Earthbending! Good! We'll start first thing tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning?" Aang asked, crestfallen. "But we could start this afternoon!"

"No, no," King Bumi replied, waving his hand dismissively. "Then we'd have no time at all!"

"What do you mean?"

"We can't start this afternoon! How would we squeeze in the lesson, between having you kids settle in, showing you the newly-refurbished southeastern mail chutes, and introducing this fine young gentleman here to Flopsie!"

Katara gaped incredulously at the crazy old man. "You…you still have Flopsie?"

"Oh my, yes," Bumi said, looking entirely too pleased with himself. "He's still around, and doing great! I found him a girlfriend! They're in loooooove," he cooed.

Sokka groaned and slapped his hand to his forehead, but Zuko's face lit up with excitement. "You have pets, King Bumi?"

"Oh yes. Flopsie and Mopsie – that's his honey bunny, heehee! – are the cutest, cuddliest, smooshiemoomoomoo, bloobloopoo darlings ever! In fact, it should be time for their walk soon. Why don't you accompany me to the hutch while your friends get settled in, hmm?"

"All right! I've never had any pets of my own," Zuko gushed. "At least, none that I can remember."

The two began walking down one of the many long, green, glowing corridors in the palace, leaving the Avatar and the Water siblings behind. A servingman, clad in green and tan, swept them towards another wing of the palace. "This way, sirs and lady," he droned, "Your rooms are prepared for your stay."

Ushered by the persistent hands of the servingman, Katara craned her head back as far as it would go to catch one last glimpse of Zuko and King Bumi disappearing down the length of the hallway, laughing uproariously at some hideous new pun that one of them had come up with.

The next morning, as everyone was heartily tucking into a breakfast of fresh fruits, pastries, and porridges, King Bumi suggested that Aang start his lessons in the courtyard. "You three are welcome to come watch," he invited.

"That sounds great!" Katara exclaimed. "Sokka?"

Her brother, cheeks stuffed with food, sputtered. "Mmmf…sluuup…what? Oh yeah, sure. Man, is this food great or what?"

Momo hopped up next to him and chirped at the bowls of glistening fruit. In a comradely gesture, Sokka embraced the lemur with one arm, pressing his face against Momo's cheeks. "Momooooo! Look at all this food! Isn't it great? For once we won't have to fight over anything! Mmm, this is tasty."

The lemur squawked in protest, wriggled out of Sokka's tenacious grip, and planted himself firmly in front of a brimming bowl of succulent grapes. With great gusto, Momo gulped down the contents of the entire vessel.

"So that leaves you, my dear Zuko," Bumi said, looking keenly in the young man's direction.

Zuko grinned. He loved this old man! For some reason, it just felt right to have an elderly, eccentric, father figure in his life. "That's a tempting offer, but I've got a case of restless legs. I think I'd like to explore Omashu a little."

Sokka looked wary. Leaving the amnesiac Fire Prince to wander around one of the Earth Kingdom's last standing strongholds was not a smashing idea. "You might get lost. Why don't I go with you?"

"No thanks, I've been listening to you whine all day long for the past two weeks. I need a break."

Undaunted, Sokka persisted. "Well, it'd still be a better idea if you have a guide. King Bumi, is there anyone who can show Zuko around?"

"Oh relax, Sokka," King Bumi said. "He's a fine, strong young man. He's perfectly competent and capable of taking care of himself, which is really more than what we can say for you!"

"Buh, nuh? No! I'm competent! I am!" Sokka spluttered.

"Yeah. Who was it that nearly got his leg taken off by the Crocogator a couple of days ago? 'Aw come on guys, he's harmless! Look how cute he is! I'm gonna pet him!'" Zuko taunted.

"Hey! I didn't know it was actually ten feet long! I could only see its head! And it was cute!" Sokka protested, before adding under his breath, "Before it tried to eat me…"

"Well, it's settled then," Aang interjected, anxious to start learning. "We'll go learn Earthbending and Zuko will go explore. We'll all be back for lunch. Okay, let's go!"

As the group rose from the table and started outside, King Bumi approached Zuko and clasped him on the shoulder. "If you have time, go visit the menagerie," he advised. "Sometimes they'll get animals unsuitable for public display and give them away for free! That's where I found Flopsie!"

Zuko's eyes glittered. "Will do, King Bumi. Will do."

"Atta boy!" Bumi clapped Zuko on the shoulder and moved off.

While King Bumi led the youths through the labyrinthine corridors of the palace, Katara sidled up to Zuko. "What are you going to do on your morning off?" she asked.

Surprised but pleased by her initiative, Zuko replied, "I dunno…walk around, take in the sights. I guess until Aang gets his Earthbending down, we won't be leaving for a while, so it'd be nice to get to know the area. And who knows? Maybe I'll be able to find people to help us fight against the Fire Lord in the war."

"Uhh, don't…don't do that," Katara exclaimed hastily. "Um, we need to keep Aang's stay here a secret, okay? And we can't go stirring up trouble…people might react badly to you approaching them about the war."

Zuko scowled. "It's the scar, isn't it?"

"No, no! It's…not that," Katara fumbled, trying not to hurt his feelings and yet wanting to ensure no poor Omashu citizen would be accosted by an overeager Fire Prince. "You just – "

" – You're freaky, that's what," Sokka supplied, from behind them.

Katara shot her brother a dirty look over her shoulder. "Please, just promise me you won't go bothering people."

"Fine. I'll just stay by my freaky little self," Zuko said dully.

"Good." Katara flashed him a sudden smile. "Because otherwise I'd have to thrash you during our workouts…again."

"Oh come on! One time! And the sun was going down, too!" Zuko protested, picking up on her mocking, playful tone. "You watch out when we fight again this evening. This one won't end in a tie!"

"Ha! Right, because I'm going to win!"

"You're delusional."

The pretty Water master gave Zuko one last heart-melting smile before picking up her pace to join Aang. Zuko watched her go with mixed emotions. Ever since the night Sokka had his mad rant about staying away from Katara, he had retaliated by becoming painfully platonic with her. Of course, she still sent electricity through his veins with every touch, accidental or not, and their daily sparring sessions always left him breathless, partly from the exercise but mostly from the sheer rush of her presence and attention. Still, she had warmed up to him and the two happily spent time together, discussing everything from differences in bending style to Sokka's tendency to split his pants down the backseat.

Zuko still ached to be close to her, to touch her as intimately as he had that day by the pool in the forest. He wished he could get to know her, not just as a traveling companion and workout partner, but as a friend and lover. The only upside to keeping his feelings in check was the infuriating effect it had on her brother: Sokka couldn't do anything so long as Zuko remained neutral, a position that Sokka found irritating.

Outside the palace, Zuko broke off from the group and headed in the opposite direction. The city was already up and bustling, even this early in the morning, and the cool, crisp air a welcome respite from the stuffiness of the palace. With clean clothes and a washed face, Zuko felt as fresh and spotless as the beautiful day awakening before him. Zuko grinned. An entire morning to himself, to explore, browse, eat, or do whatever the hell he wanted: it was bliss.

King Bumi had given him explicit directions and Zuko eventually found himself in front of the royal menagerie. Squawks, hoots, honks, and other exciting noises split the air. Eager to see the exotic collections of animals, Zuko headed for the large, iron-wrought gates. He wondered if Katara would like it if he gave her a cute pet as a gift.

"Ey you! Whereduyyah tink yer goin'?" A gruff, burly man stepped in front of Zuko.

Affronted, Zuko drew himself up. "To the menagerie," he replied haughtily.

"Well, iss closed now. Won' be open fer another two hours." The man moved closer to Zuko, whose nose caught an extensive whiff of ripe, unwashed human.

Zuko hastily backpedaled a few steps to escape the horrid reek but remained adamant. "I am here to see the menagerie. I am a guest of King Bumi, and I demand that you let me in at once!"

"Oh-HO!" the man chortled, revealing a few yellowing, crusty teeth. "Ain't we self-righteous today! Well lemme tell ya, Mister High-an'-Mighty, guest or no guest, th' menagerie's CLOSED. As in, not open. So ya just better scamper back to wherever the hell ya came from, got it?"

"Listen, you filthy, smelly moron! I want to see the animals! You are disobeying the wishes of the king, and if you don't let me in right this second, I'll see that you pay dearly for this!" Zuko erupted, smoke curling out from his nostrils and between his clenched jaw.

"Huh?" The man took a hasty step back. "Yer Fire Nation scum! Oi! There's Fire trash here! Ey! Git'im!"

Zuko looked around, bewildered, as five other hulking beasts of men appeared around him, forming a ring. They advanced slowly and cautiously, but determination to catch the Firebender was written clearly across their faces. Zuko thought he might be able to take them down, but realized that, smelly and boneheaded or not, the men were still civilians under King Bumi's employ and it wouldn't do to insult his friend and host by blasting his subjects into crisps.

With sudden clarity of mind, Zuko bolted, just as the ring of men closed in. He wriggled through a gap between two particularly meaty menagerie workers and dashed away.

"HEY! He's gittin' away!"

Roars and heavy footfalls chased Zuko as he tore through the narrow alleyways of the main bazaar. Vendors and shoppers alike shrieked and scrambled out of the way as first fleeing Fire Prince and then several large and angry men barreled through the marketplace. Soon, others began taking up the menagerie guards' shouts and some joined in on the chase.

"Fire scum!"

"Don't let him get away!"

"Fire Nation filth!"

"You'll never take Omashu!"

"OHDEARGODHELPUSWE'REGONNADIE!"

Panting, Zuko chanced a glance up to gauge how far he was from the sanctuary of Bumi's palace. Everything looked foreign and unfamiliar, and he couldn't find the distinctive emerald cupola of the palace. Oh great. I'm lost.

A searing pain began stabbing Zuko in the ribs. Although well on the mend, he still wasn't healthy enough to go sprinting around dusty alleyways, dodging occasional blows and leaping over mail chutes. To his dismay, Zuko felt his exhausted legs tremble and slow, and the loud yells drew closer. He wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer.

"C'mon, he's getting tired! Git'im!"

In desperation, Zuko flung a hand backwards as he ran and threw a few flames at his pursuers. Yelps and shouts told him that the fire had bought him a few precious seconds' lead, but it wasn't good enough. Suddenly, a figure detached from the crowd behind Zuko and leapt lightly onto a passing mail cart going down one of the ubiquitous mail slides. The speed of the stone cart brought the figure, cloaked in drab brown, closer to Zuko, who saw the movement from the corner of his eye.

"When you turn that bend over there, the track will be level with the street. Reach out your left hand as soon as you come around!" the mystery person yelled, barely audible above the noise of the mob and the speeding mail cart.

Zuko let out a strangled noise in affirmation. To anyone watching, it would just seem like some devoted pursuer was keen on using the cart's speed to grab the offending Fire intruder.

The corner neared, and both Zuko and the cloaked figure tore around it. As promised, the mail track dipped down briefly to meet the street and Zuko threw his hand out. His unknown benefactor gripped Zuko firmly and hauled him bodily into the cart, where he slammed against one stone side and slumped on the bottom of the cart, gasping for air.

The mail chute picked up speed once again on its perpetual downward course, and soon the angry yells of the marketplace mob was lost in the distance.

While Zuko fled his pursuers, Aang was having a much less successful time learning Earthbending. The pebble simply would not budge.

"I don't get it!" Aang complained, pounding the ground with his fists. "I can't get it to move!"

"Now Aang," King Bumi soothed, infinitely patient, "Earthbending isn't about instantaneous results. It's about feeling the solidness of the soil, the calm steadiness of silent rock. Get rid of your emotions. Become neutral, become quiet and still like the earth. Feel the serenity."

"Okay, okay," Aang muttered, and took a deep breath. "Serenity. Serenity. Calm. Silent rock."

A little ways off, Katara and Sokka sprawled lazily on the green grass, basking in the sun. Katara yawned. "How long do you think this will take? Aang had no trouble doing the basic Water moves. He even Firebent without help."

Sokka rolled over and cast one sleepy eye at his Avatar friend. "I dunno. Earthbending seems too…calm…for him. He'll never get it."

Katara sat up and stretched. "Well, I'm beginning to wish I'd gone with Zuko. At least I'd be able to do something."

Even this most innocent of comments was enough to launch Sokka into a frenzy. "Zuko? No, not Zuko. You don't like Zuko. You don't want to do things with Zuko!"

Katara cocked one eyebrow and gave her brother a searching glance. "Do things?" she mocked. "Do things."

"Well, yeah! Things!"

The Waterbender stood up and brushed the dust off of the seat of her pants. "Right. Things. Any thing would really be better than sitting here watching Aang have a near hernia over that pebble. I'm going to go find Zuko. And then we'll do things. Exciting, heartstopping, thrilling things."

"AGH! Wait!" her brother blubbered, reaching frantically to catch the edge of Katara's tunic. "I'll come with you! You never know…when you'll need…things…from me."

As rapidly as a crashing wave, Katara whipped around and stabbed one accusing finger at Sokka's face. "I'm not stupid!" she yelled, suddenly incensed.

Aang and Bumi paused in their lesson and looked curiously at the siblings.

"You think you know everything!" Katara continued. "You think you know every detail of Zuko's devious plots to capture us all! You think you can come up with all these clever lies that'll keep him from realizing the truth! You think you know how he feels about us – about me!"

"I, uh…" Sokka protested feebly.

"Well you know what, Sokka?" his sister persisted. "You've got it all wrong. You keep thinking that Zuko's going to sell us out to the Fire Nation – Sokka, he doesn't even know who he is! And our lies are going to fall apart in our face! We were so wrong to do it in the first place, and now we just have to keep going, pretending things that don't make any sense! He's going to figure it out!

And you need to stop freaking out over every little thing I do! Zuko and I are friends. He won't hurt me, and you've seen us spar. You know I'm good enough to protect myself, but you just won't let that go, will you?"

"Katara, he's dangerous!" Sokka argued, getting to his feet.

"Please. You've been with us for the past couple of weeks. He could've captured or killed us at any time, but he's been nothing but nice and sweet and fun to talk to, and I hate…I hate lying to him and using him!"

Just as quickly as her anger had welled up, Katara deflated. "I'm sick and tired of manipulating him. It's been suffocating me this whole time. He deserves to know the truth."

"You can't do that!"

"Watch me."

"He's going to kill you! He's going to kill us!"

"He won't. Sokka, you can be so thick sometimes…you "know" all of the evil plans he's hatching in his head but you can't even see the plain fact that he likes us. Likes all of us. He won't turn on us! He can't."

With that, Katara turned on her heel and ran out of the courtyard. Sokka started after her, but a gnarled hand on his shoulder held him back and he turned. "Don't," King Bumi said quietly, knowingly. "It'll just keep eating away at her. I'm surprised she lasted that long, really."

Sokka looked back at the retreating figure of his sister, braid flapping as she fled. He sighed and sat down. She was right. He hated to admit it, tried to deny it and bury it as if it had never happened, but she was right about everything. And now he was miserable.

He kicked a rock which accidentally flew at Aang, who had been watching silently from the sidelines. The Avatar held up a hand to deflect the stone and instead of hitting him, it shot straight up in the air and disappeared.

"Hey!" Aang exclaimed in surprise.

Bumi's delighted cackle rang through the courtyard. "Heeheehee! Very good, young Aang!"

It seemed like he was going to fall forever.

The mail cart zoomed effortlessly down the endless track, the sound of stone scraping stone a painful rasp that felt like it was going to bruise the eardrums. The wind whistled crazily as Omashu whipped by.

"So uh, when do you think we'll stop?" Zuko yelled conversationally over the noise of the chute and wind.

The figure, who had not spoken since he had called to Zuko in the marketplace, remained silent. "All right, then," Zuko consoled himself, and settled back against the cold granite to wait.

A few more minutes passed, silent save for the ever-present scraping. Zuko gritted his teeth. He was getting impatient and the noise was going to drive him insane.

The cart careened wildly around a turn and the mystery man suddenly grabbed Zuko by the arm and brought him close so he could hear over the noise. "We're coming to the end of the track," he shouted. "See that flat area with the red markings, below that big tube?"

Zuko squinted and nodded.

"When we get there, on my mark, jump out and run like hell for that yellowish building. Earth Kingdom soldiers will be getting ready to move the cart back up, through the tube. Make sure you're out by then, or else you're getting a bumpy ride back to the top."

"Uh…okay," Zuko stammered.

"Good. Oh, and don't get caught. I'm not risking my butt for you again."

The steep descent gradually petered out, flattening slowly until it was almost level horizontally. Red flags signaled the upcoming transfer station. Zuko could see what looked like perfect miniatures of Earth Kingdom soldiers, little figurines that steadily grew until they were nearing life-size. The soldiers had yet to notice the two stowaways crouched in the approaching mail cart.

"All right, ladies and gentlemen, this is where we get off!" came from somewhere within the folds of the brown cloak.

The cart lurched to a jarring halt, and Zuko barely had time to register three puzzled faces above him when he received a hard shove. "GO!"

He bolted out of the cart, rolling awkwardly on the ground before regaining his feet. His companion had leapt out smoothly, slipping deftly through the stunned soldiers. Zuko caught a flash of movement darting towards cover and followed suit.

"What the – "

Zuko's legs, recovered from the earlier chase, pounded the dusty street as he ran. Fortunately, the soldiers had to keep to their schedule and shrugged the incident off as two idiots who went joyriding through the mail system. They turned back to their work and sent the cart back up through the tube.

Zuko reached the building but didn't see his companion anywhere. Suddenly, a hand shot out and grabbed Zuko stoutly by the front of his tunic and yanked him unceremoniously through a doorway. Zuko let out a squeak of surprise and immediately orange flames spurted from his fists.

"Whoa there," a voice said. The door slammed and a lock clicked.

He was in a stuffy, cramped little room. The windows were boarded up messily and there was a desolate look about the place. The smell of abandonment, of loneliness and desperation, hung in the air.

Standing in front of Zuko, steadying him with strong callused hands, was a young man with dark brown eyes peering out from behind a messy mop of black hair. Stubble coated his jaw, giving him a roguish air, and a thin white scar decorating his right temple contributed well to the rakish appearance. He looked as if he could be Zuko's age, perhaps a bit older – all in all, a rather handsome package. The young man was dressed in the same rough material as Zuko's rescuer but had an easy grin that seemed incongruous with the curt remarks during the ride down.

Disoriented and still hesitant, Zuko shook off the teen's grip and backed up. "What's going on?" he demanded. "Where am I?"

The young man threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, you haven't changed one bit," he chuckled. "Still as imperious as you were then. Well, to answer your question, we're home. My home, at least. You seem to be a tad on the far side from yours."

It took Zuko a few extra seconds to understand what the young man had said. He peered cautiously at him, confused and curious. "Have we met?" he asked.

Hurt seeped into coffee-colored eyes. "You don't remember me?"

"Ah, no."

"He doesn't remember me!" the young man repeated incredulously. He stepped forward, closing the distance between them again, and grabbed Zuko's arm. "You're telling me…you don't remember me?"

"I don't remember you." Zuko wondered how long it was going to take for him to understand.

"Unbelievable. I mean, I think maybe it's understandable, seeing as how it's been, what, ten years, but really! You don't remember me?"

"No."

"Oh, I am so hurt!" he cried, reeling back and clutching his chest. "Zuko, my bestest best friend of all bestness, doesn't have any memory of his bestest best friend of all bestness, me!"

"Maybe we could start by having you tell me who you are?" Zuko suggested. He wasn't all too surprised that the stranger knew his name; after all, this seemed to be a nutty world where everyone knew who he was, except himself.

"It's MEEEE!" the odd boy exclaimed, lurching forward once more and grabbing Zuko's arm. "Me! Your old buddy, old pal, Selu!"

Zuko responded by staring blankly at the young man, whose crazily grinning face was uncomfortably close to his.

Selu let out a noise of disbelief. "He still doesn't remember!"

"Of course he doesn't, you moron." A low, smooth voice came from the side.

Zuko, who had been slowly prying Selu off, finger by finger, from his arm, stopped to stare at the source of the voice. He had been so thrown by the bizarre exchange with Selu that he hadn't even noticed the slender figure leaning casually against the wall.

The figure detached itself from the shadows and flowed, liquid-like, into the dim light filtering in between the cracks of the boarded windows. A girl with piercing jet-black eyes and high, haughty cheekbones emerged into view. Her hair, as dark as her eyes and as silky as her voice, was pulled back in a high bun. She was tall, standing well over Selu, whose head came to Zuko's ear. A wry smile crossed her full lips. "Remember me?"

Zuko, all thoughts of dislodging the intruder on his arm forgotten, nearly went cross-eyed at the vision of beauty before him. Her almond-shaped eyes flashed in amusement. Clearly she was used to this type of response from males. "Guess not."

Something in her voice shook Zuko back to his senses; warning bells went off in the farthest depths of his gut. The feeling alerted him enough to lick his dry lips and mutter, "I think I would."

"Oh good," Selu said happily, "It's not just me. He doesn't remember who you are either."

The girl came closer and as she did, the hairs on the back of Zuko's neck prickled. He was already beginning to dislike her, and he didn't even know her name. Caution now presided in his instincts, strengthening him like armor against her potent beauty. He could see now that while the girl was ragingly lovely, her features were chiseled and cold, nothing like Katara's warm and honest openness.

"Sami's the name, and rescuing old childhood friends is my game," she purred, holding out a delicate hand, smooth and unmarred unlike Selu's.

Zuko took her hand and clasped it just long enough to be polite. "Hello."

An awkward silence hung in the air. Zuko kicked at the ground while Sami continued drilling into him with her acute gaze, intently studying his every detail. Selu muttered some more and his left eye twitched spasmodically. "Uhh so," Zuko began, "It's very nice to meet you two…again? I suppose you are the ones responsible for saving me from that mob?"

"Mhm!" Selu affirmed cheerily.

Zuko turned to him and inclined his head respectfully. "Thank you. I was lost…I don't know how I would've gotten out of that mess."

Sami scoffed. "Him? He couldn't fight his way out of a burlap sack. He saw you, but I saved you. I believe your thanks goes to me."

Zuko looked at her, surprised. "I'm sorry. Thank you, then," he said softly.

The girl tossed her head back and grinned wickedly. "Of course. Anything for a friend."

"Friend! Yes! Ha! That's who we are!" Selu burst out. "So do you remember us now?"

Disdainfully, Sami reached over and roughly pulled Selu off of Zuko, who sighed in relief at the restoration of blood flow. "Excuse my addle-brained brother here," she said acidly. "He hasn't been the same since the accident."

Seemingly unaffected by his sister's biting tone, Selu whispered conspiratorially to Zuko, "A few weeks after we got to Omashu, some kids found out we were from the Fire Nation and threw rocks at us. Sami got away, but a big one caught me on the side of the head – POW! We moved here and have been staying here ever since. Man, you should've seen the size of those rocks! They were…ha ha! Flying rocks…"

Zuko looked pityingly at the young man. It was one thing to have amnesia, but to be considered crazy and to be conscious of it…Zuko almost felt lucky.

"Confused much?" Sami drawled. "Let's sit down and talk. It's been a while."

A/N: Sorry to leave y'all hanging. I BET YOU'RE ALL DYING TO KNOW MORE! Twitch, twitch.

I enjoyed writing this because it's actually relevant to the storyline. When I went back and reread some of the previous chapters, I concluded that some it was really unnecessary and I probably went crazy at some point to write it. But not anymore! Fwahaha.

A cut scene:

Bumi: "Okay, okay. I've got one, Zu."
Zuko: "Yeah? Let's hear it!"
Bumi: "All right. Okay. Okay. One night, cos, sin, and tan were sitting around a campfire, while ex was by himself off to the side. Someone asked him why he wasn't with the others, and he said, 'I tried to integrate myself, but nothing happened!'"
Zuko: "FWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Nothing happened! Hahaha! Ohh! Ohh! I can't breathe! I can't breathe!"
Aang, Katara, Sokka: Um.

Yes. In other news, I've got a combination of mono and end-of-the-semester papers, so…yeah. Don't hold your breath. You'll turn blue.

This chapter is part of a multiple-component birthday gift for my precious sister, who is growing up way too fast. Happy birthday, my sibling. May Ranger magically appear at your side.