A/N: Weellllll, after Cave of Two Lovers, this fic kinda died. So. I reworked it a bit. And now it's all better. Huzzah for a new beginning. (sighs at loss of good writing) Also, I added this chapter as a new one and revamped the old prologue. So read that first. If you want.

…And I need a new title for this fic. Srsly. Any ideas? (I thought maybe Entente Cordiale would do. It is, by definition, "shared understanding" or "peace agreement." Also, "an informal alliance between countries" or "a friendly understanding between political powers." I dunno. I think it sounds fitting).

Just a quick question: what is the bird/horse thing called? An ostrich? An emuhorse? Maybe even a horstrich or an ostrihorse? I dunno. I'm going with "ostrich."

Btw, SPOILER WARNING.

Disclaimer: Mike and Bryan, you geniuses, you! How I wish I could have your creativity. But alas, I shall shed an emo tear, for I have no claim to your wonderful work, Avatar. (Shot for imbecility)

Entente Cordiale

Chapter One

Travel was completely out of the question after the confrontation with his sister and her lackeys. Mei's smile had been nothing but malign, revealing her absolute, maddening bloodlust. Tai Li had just been as goofy as ever, giving him a sympathetic smile as she located his pressure points and rendered his Firebending useless. And then there had been his sister, Azula, with the sizzling crack of lightning aimed straight at his heart—and, selfless, Iroh had blocked the bolt. There had been nothing else to do at the moment, Iroh told Zuko. But it was such a terrible thing to see, the only person he loved collapsing on the ground with a mortal wound, a terrible shock that would've killed the old man if not for the ability to Bend.

After that, he had hoisted Iroh onto the back of the ostrich and slapped the enormous bird in the haunches, bellowing at it to go. He'd sprinted off in a different direction, hoping to divert Azula's attention from his uncle. Anything to save Iroh. His uncle had to live. Iroh had saved Zuko's life and Zuko would do the same for him.

But now he was clambering through a wild forest somewhere in the Earth Kingdom, crashing on fallen branches and dead leaves and all sorts of underbrush. He cursed violently when his right foot got stuck in an impeding tree root, grasping on a branch of a nearby tree to stop from falling over. Hearing quiet voices in the distance and the rustle of leaves a bit behind him, he righted himself and dashed as fast as he could into a clearing.

Thrashing his head about, he wondered which way to go. Which way will be safe?

The only way to go was away from Azula. And that meant tramping through more underbrush and batting thick branches full of leaves and tearing through thorn bushes that would rip his clothing, scratch at his skin. And he was so tired from running all night. There had to be some other way to go, some other thing to do.

He glanced up at the sky and saw the stars: a constellation reeling in the western part of the sky depicted a dragon hissing at a neighboring star formation, a gull slightly to the north. And to the south of the dragon was another bird, although this one was more fearsome than the gull, and cleverer, too. The hawk constellation hung in the sky, perched on a tree formed of stars, staring at the small skirmish between the dragon and the gull. Zuko's eyes widened. Of course. Azula was the dragon, pursuing him, his uncle, and now the Avatar. The Avatar was the gull; and Azula, the dragon, desired to get the Avatar first. But Zuko was the hawk, hiding in a tree and avoiding Azula.

Marveling at how he hadn't thought of it before, Zuko scrambled up a tree to one of the highest branches, where he stayed still and looked out over the forest, trying to catch a glimpse of any one of his pursuers. A cool breeze ruffled the leaves around him, but he paid it no mind. His eyes scoured countless tops of trees; he grunted in frustration when he couldn't see below the canopy of endless green that, right now, only looked more like a silver sea reflecting pale moonlight. He glanced at the sky and a cold crescent moon stared back down at him, as though mocking him, saying, 'I will not let you see anything, you fool, you failure.'

Clenching his teeth, his stepped down from the apex of the tree, working his way down to a more concealed branch. Zuko rested his back against the tree, closing his eyes—he was so tired. But still, the branch was quite high up, and it made him uncomfortable to think what would happen if he shifted around in his sleep or—Agni forbid it—fall to his death because of it.

So he kept awake, staring down the clearing below. About an hour after he had settled on his current branch (or so he thought it was; it might've been but twenty minutes or even four hours since he had settled), he heard voices down in the clearing. Peeking over the edge of his branch, his breath caught in his chest as he saw two dark figures conversing quietly. Straining his ears, he tried to decipher their whispers, and understood a few words here and there.

"—off on an ostrich—" (A jumble of words followed here that Zuko couldn't understand)

"But they wouldn't separate, he's too weak-hearted—" (More mumbled words, more misunderstood meanings)

"—got to be in this forest—heard him—can't be far ahead—"

And then, a scream of frustration, a voice filled with bitterness: "He's here, he's here! I'm going to kill him."

And, horror of horrors, a burst of quick light: fire. The flame licked a tree trunk and some underbrush, and within thirty seconds, the whole clearing was ablaze.

"Come on, Tai Li, let's go. Why do you stand so still? We should catch up with Mei; capturing my buffoon of an uncle is of paramount importance. Come on, Tai Li, there are more important matters to attend to—Tai Li! Why are you just standing there gaping? Shall I have to drag you back?" shouted Azula's voice over the roar of fire.

"I—I'm fine, let's get out of here!" called back Tai Li after a moment's silence, and Zuko watched in horror as they ran off through the woods, back the way they'd come, leaving him behind to burn to death.

He coughed as smoke filtered up into the branches, and his eyes watered. Must get out of here, must get out of here—

He had never hated his sister more.

She grumbled irritably as she tromped through the grasses. The forest had long stopped and given way to an expansive plain; wild grasses and flowers grew up all around her, beautiful in some wild way. It was as though they had been left to grow long ago, as though this grassland had been entirely forgotten, lost in time. But Mei was not concerned about that, and nothing else either. She only had a mission to finish: she had to find Zuko's wounded uncle. And that, of course, meant tracking down an ostrich that traveled much faster than she could've ever dreamed of traveling. Tracking the bird was easy: it left a plain, obvious trail that any amateur could follow. But the darned bird was so fast, and it was a pain in the neck to go on tracking it down through the night for hours on end.

Mei had wanted to go with Azula and Tai Li and hunt down Zuko, for she had been excited at the thought of speaking with him again, even if he was a failure. She had been shocked when she saw him: he had no topknot, no young, handsome face, and no sparkling gold eyes. The eyes had shocked her the most: they had no spark to them. They were just there. They weren't bored or anything of the sort. They were dead.

She frowned as she stepped over a muddy bank of tiny creek, not caring if her boots were sullied. Mei did not wonder at how the creek would run into a tributary that would run into a river and would ultimately end up at the ocean. She was not one to care about other things; she only cared for excitement, action. Mei was restless. And even now, she was restless. The thrill of the hunt had died somewhere back in the forest.

Plowing forward through the tall grasses, she found a dusty road. Kneeling down, she placed her hand in a small indent in the road: a footprint, just about the size of an ostrich's. She could see how the claws had driven hard into the road, and she cursed colorfully when she understood that the bird had still been running when it had left this imprint.

She set off at a sprint, streaking across the grassland rapidly with no one but the fading moon to watch her.

But that wasn't really a problem. The sun would soon be rising.

Katara yawned, opening her eyes to the blazing rays of sun raining from the eastern horizon. She looked quietly behind her at the campsite—Sokka was snoring, and Momo was curled up on Sokka's belly; Appa lay on its stomach, snuggled against Sokka and Momo. But where was Aang?

She turned her face the other way and saw Aang perched in a tree, his back to her, as he started into the sunrise. A sorrowful mood came almost immediately over Katara, and she felt so—so lost. She approached Aang quietly and after what seemed like an eternity of internal struggle, said, "Aang, are you okay?"

He kept facing away from her as he mumbled, "Yeah, just a—yeah. I'm fine."

But she knew enough to know he was lying. "It's okay to talk to me about it, Aang," she whispered, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I understand if you don't want me to talk to you or anything, but Aang, you have to talk to me. Please."

His eyes were so filled with lament that she averted her gaze to shove away the guilt. "You know I love you like my own family, Aang. I always have."

The gray eyes flashed happily, if only for a moment. "Yeah. I know that." And his voice perked a bit, but then he kept silent and Katara did too, for she didn't know what else to say. And soon his voice became sulky again as he said, "Why?"

Katara didn't have an answer for that, but she tried her best. "Sometimes—sometimes things like that just don't last."

"You mean you—you actually—"

"Yeah. I did."

"And now you don't?"

"I don't."

"O—okay."

Feeling rather awkward, Katara left Aang to go back to start up some breakfast and wake up Sokka. Once Sokka was up, the tension in the air would be gone, and Katara would be grateful for that.

But Aang's voice stopped her. "Katara? I—thanks. For everything."

And though Katara didn't turn back to answer, she smiled.

"Ugh," muttered Katara, "we don't have any supplies left but some of this bread—and it's all hard, too."

Sokka sighed. "I take that means I've got to go find food?" he groaned.

Katara grinned. "You know you role all too well, Sokka," she laughed. "But just don't get any rocks that look like nuts or nuts that just might be rocks," she added. Sokka shot her a look that plainly said 'Be quiet or I'm not going to get food at all.' "Sorry, Sokka," she apologized. A thought struck her. "Why don't you take Aang with you?"

The glance exchanged between Aang and her explained to Aang everything he needed to know; and he nodded and insisted that he and Sokka leave at once. Katara flashed an appreciative smile at Aang, and then the two tromped off with Momo following them.

Katara didn't even have the faintest idea that she wouldn't see them again for a long time.

A/N: Alright. There we go. Woo. Too much writing in one day… (K'sani brain is fried) Don't expect any drabbles to be posted today…

And guess what? Half of this was written while listening to classical music. I do recommend writing while listening to classical music; it works quite well. Whaaaaaat? Don't give me that look! I have a fetish for classical music. So? xP