Disclaimer: I own neither Avater nor the Phantom of the Opera.

AN: Thank you to all the people who reviewed, and to everyone who offered me in depth reviews. You have no idea how much that's helped me. And yes, since I am a die hard shipper, this is a somewhat Zutara story...

The Third Shadow:

Masquerade

VI

Masquerade!

Paper faces on parade!

Masquerade:

Hide your face and the world will never find you!

"He isn't here," Zuko muttered darkly. A leopard offered a bored glance down at him from its perch in a nearby tree.

"Perhaps we are only resting, Prince Zuko," Iroh suggested.

"We've been here for hours, Uncle," the young man replied. "What are you waiting for?" he demanded of the cat. "And why did you bring us to a house?"

"We're waiting for him, dear," said the woman who reclined where the leopard had been a moment before. Her pale hair fluttered slightly in a faint breeze- she sniffed at the wind with interest, but then shook her head. "It'll be a while yet. You might as well get comfortable." She hooked her arm around the branch she rested on and angled her head to better stare at him. "Like the house. Pick out your rooms." Iroh shot her a questioning glance.

"What about those who already live here?" he asked, his voice veined with suspicion.

"I took care of them. Pick out your rooms."

"What did you do to them?" Iroh persisted.

"It's not important. They're not coming back, so everything's fine. Go pick out your rooms."

"What did you do?"

"Have you gone deaf? As amazing as it seems, I don't like repeating myself." There was a subtle threat in her tone. Now it was Zuko's turn to glare at the Spirit.

"Where are they, Tsune?" he asked. Without a word, the woman became a leopard once more, diving gracefully from the tree to stand before the young man. Its speckled fur bristled as it stared at him- and he stared defiantly back. Iroh grabbed his nephew's shoulder with one hand, preparing to pull him out of reach of the feline claws. And before the old man could react, the Spirit had changed again, once more looking like a woman, this one with dark skin and a smug grin on her face.

"Spirits above," she chuckled. "I love jerking your chain."

"Jerking what?" Zuko asked, one eyebrow raised. Tsune's constant transformations were beginning to lose their freakish nature, but her random use of obscure phrases still left him confused. Yet this seemed to be the point, because her grin widened.

"Your chain. Toying with you." She chuckled again. "You're fun to play with, dear." Now properly enlightened, Zuko narrowed his eyes again.

"What did you do, Tsune?" he repeated.

"Nothing exciting," the Spirit shrugged. "Right now, I think they're a few dozen miles from here, babbling to whoever will listen about monsters and demons." She hooked one arm around Zuko's neck and shot Iroh a smug glance over the young man's shoulder. "No better for the wear, of course, but not exactly injured, either."

"I want the truth," Zuko said quietly. Her negligence for personal space wasn't as unnerving anymore, either. But that didn't mean he enjoyed it, either.

"It is, as far as you're concerned," the Spirit mused. "And if it isn't, how will you know the difference? Now, if we're done with the little informative spree, let's get inside. You still need to pick out your rooms." Without waiting for a reply, she began walking towards the cottage, Zuko still trapped in the crook of her arm. Iroh, unwilling to leave his nephew alone with the Spirit, followed behind.

The house was roughly made- little more than a cottage. It was filled with rough odds and ends, a few clothes- some of these looked out of place, exactly the right size for Zuko and Iroh; Zuko shot Tsune a glance, but she said nothing- a small amount of furniture. It was Iroh who noticed that there were no mirrors in the house.

"Of course not," the Spirit had scoffed. "Do you think I'd let my plan be ruined so easily? Besides, nobody will miss them. Mirrors are expensive, and you're supposed to be inconspicuous. And in this part of the world, that means borderline poor."

"If you have everything so perfectly planned," Zuko snapped, "Then why don't you play the girl's lover? Or better yet, why not play the girl?" As usual, she completely ignored Zuko's glare.

"That's possible," she said, batting at a dangling wind chime. "But not practical, dear. And far more dangerous than this."

"You claim to be so good at this," Zuko pointed out venomously. "I thought you would welcome a challenge."

"And I would," the Spirit shrugged. "But first of all, I'm not fond of being chained up for another span of eternity. And second, I doubt you personally have the patience for such a plan." She looked him up and down for a moment. "Never mind- I know you don't have that kind of patience."

"Try me," he challenged.

"Sure thing: all creatures have certain mannerisms, certain...things about them that identify them. In order to properly impersonate Katara, I'd have to watch her every movement, her every word, for at least a decade, and even then the Avatar would probably recognize me, just because he's been fighting me for a few million years. And in case you weren't paying attention the first time I told you, I don't have control over the Avatar. He has power over me. Which means roughly that if he suspects what I really am, and he decides to command me around, I have little choice but to obey. And even if I pretend to be the lovely Katara's new boyfriend, all it would take for an angry Avatar to stop me from ever coming near her again would be, quite simply, a single command." She paused. "You, however, are no Spirit. The only power he has over you lies in the fact that he can take your life. Which, and we've been over this before, is nullified if you succeed. So you can stop complaining, dear. This is the best way."

Tsune's only redemption for her absolute insolencewas the fact that she helped them 'fix up' the house- sort through its contents, throwing everything unnecessary or unwanted in a pile, making the house look 'clean yet lived in', as the Spirit put it, and hiding all evidence that they had not been the house's inhabitants for the past few years.

Several hours passed before Zuko paused over a drawer. Apparently it had belonged to a woman- a few trinkets of jewelry were carefully arranged inside, and in the corner was a small, simplehand mirror, barely the size of his palm.

"Is something wrong, Prince Zuko?" Iroh asked, pulling a long dress out of the closet.

"No, Uncle," he called back, pocketing the mirror. "Nothing at all."

They continued thierwork withoutfurther incidentfor the better part of the afternoon before Tsune stopped, frozen near a window. Her eyes narrowed, and she sniffed at the air without making a sound.

"What is it?" Zuko asked, and he noticed that his voice had changed to fit his disguise. He glanced at his hands- his skin had darkened a few shades. Iroh had changed as well. Tsune grinned at them.

"It's the Avatar," she said. "He's here."

Aang, Sokka and Katara had stopped for the night by a small spring. Appa grazed contentedly on the thick grasses that covered the hills around the water, and Momo scurried among the trees that dotted the landscape, collecting fruit.

Katara filled her waterskin at the water's edge, letting it lap across her hands as her eyes followed the bank of the spring. Not far away, the water overwhelmed the surrounding hills, and seeped between them in a little brook, winding its way into the distance.

And some distance away, kneeling at the edge of the creek bed, was a boy. He was too far away for Katara to distinguish much more than that- yet as she stared, his head tilted back and he met her eyes. At first his face was unfathomable, then, slowly, a quiet smile brushed his lips.

And then he stood up, collecting what looked like a clay jar he had been filling with water, and began to walk away from the brook, glancing at her from over his shoulder.

"Wait!" Katara found herself shouting. Sokka and Aang stopped their conversation to look at her. Even the stranger stopped, turning to face her. Without thinking, she dropped her waterskin on the ground behind her and stood up, jogging after him.

"Hey!" Sokka yelled, getting up to chase after her.

"Katara!" Aang called, joining in the chase. "Wait up!"

Zuko felt his muscles tense as the Avatar, the girl, and her brother approached. Years of training told him to fight, yet Tsune's instructions kept him still. Let her come to you, she had said. He didn't let the 'gentle' smile fall from his face, though a look of slight confusion mixed with it. But now the fatal step had been taken- there was no more turning back. All he could do now was go through with the Spirit's plan and pray that his disguise did not fail.

Katara was nearly out of breath by the time she reached the boy.

"Sorry..." she said, trying hard to steady her breathing. "...Sorry if I...startled you...I didn't expect..." she finally looked up, and promptly forgot what she had been saying. The figure before her was no boy, but a young man. Quite definitely a man. A very good looking man.

"It's all right," he said, and Katara felt a smile tug at her lips. His voice sounded...warm. She felt comfortable just listening to him. "Don't worry about it."

"Right..." she said. "Thanks..."

For crying out loud, pull yourself together, Katara! Remember what happened the last time you had a crush on a boy?

"Katara, right?" the young man said. She blinked in surprise.

"Yes..." she said, and then a vein of suspicion entered her mind. "How did you...?"

"Your friend said it just now," he explained, nodding to the two boys who were finally arriving behind her.

"Oh," she said, feeling her cheeks redden. Of course he heard that, she thought. He's not deaf! "And what about you? What's your name?"

Zuko barely kept himself from twitching. Or swearing. Or killing something.

Blast that idiot Spirit! He fumed, never letting his fury penetrate to his face. She never said anything about this! But he would not accept defeat. He opened his mouth and uttered the first word to enter his mind:

"Kuzon," he said. For a moment he didn't recognize the name- then it hit him: The Avatar's friend. The one he told me about.

"It's good to meet you," the girl said, an awkward smile on her face.

"Who's he?" her brother asked from over her shoulder.

"Aang, Sokka, this is Kuzon," she said, pointing at Zuko. "Kuzon, this is my brother Sokka, and Aang."

"Do you live around here?" Aang asked.

"Yes," Zuko- or rather, Kuzon- said, pointing to the east. "Not far from here, actually. What about you? I can't say I've seen you in these parts before."

"Yeah...we're not from around here," Sokka said with a shrug.

"We're traveling," Katara explained.

"I see," Zuko-Kuzon said thoughtfully. "Do you have anywhere to stay?" he asked, just as Tsune had instructed. As he expected, they shook their heads. "Then why not come to my house?"

"Really?" Katara asked, a little too eagerly.

What did Tsune make me look like, anyway? He had tried catching his reflection in the water, but it was too distorted for him to make much sense of the image. But judging by Katara's reaction, the Spirit had done a decent job.

"Do you guys have food?" Sokka asked, his eyebrows raising in mild interest at the offer.

"Of course," Zuko-Kuzon said with a nod.