DISCLAIMER: I do not own, nor have any rights to, the content, characters, or story of Avatar: the Last Airbender. The story depicted herein is a re-imagining of the story, and has no ties to the owners, writers and creators of the show.

Zuko wasn't sure about much these days. Everything had been swirling around him, changing so quickly, that he was having a tough time keeping track. But of one thing, Zuko was absolutely certain.

Sokka could give Iroh a run for his money in an eating contest.

The boy had barely breathed as he slurped down one, two, three, four bowls of stew in quick succession, paused to laugh at a joke a nearby man had said, then promptly downed another bowl.

Zuko grimaced as Sokka wiped his arm across his mouth; at least Uncle had some decorum.

Zuko had always been told that the Water Tribes were the lowest of the low; savage, brutish people that lived in huts, beat their women and spoke with grunts. When he had visited the South Pole village looking for the Avatar, it pretty much confirmed his teachings. The people were small, weak, and nobody had challenged him when he pulled his ship ashore. It was almost too easy to lay claim to their land and demand what he had sought for so long.

Now, he wasn't so sure. The Water Tribe men around him worked like the men on his ship; a well-oiled, highly trained machine. They dodged and wove around each other, carrying about their duties swiftly and surely. A steady stream of banter rolled off their tongues, and the air was filled with laughter as one man told a bawdy joke. These warriors would have given his crew a run for their money if they had been guarding their home.

Zuko looked down at his bowl, half filled with the brothy stew. He wasn't entirely sure what was in it, but it tasted good - if poorly seasoned - so he ate what he could.

His mind was far away, in a bright and crystal-infested cave beneath Ba Sing Se. He knew in his heart that he had made the right decision, and the pride and determination in his uncle's eyes stood out like a beacon of hope and surety. But his heart was heavy, knowing that he had betrayed his country, his family...his father.

What would Ozai… my father...what would he think of me now, he thought, slurping up more of the stew. He thought of his father's reaction to him sitting around a campfire with peasants, consorting with the lowest of the low. The skin around his left eye twinged, as if reminding Zuko of what his father's disappointment felt like.

"You gonna finish that?"

Zuko lifted his head to see Sokka looking at him, his finger pointing at the remaining contents in Zuko's bowl. Zuko looked at him, then at the stew. After a beat, he silently extended the bowl towards the younger boy, who quickly grabbed it from him. He watched on as Sokka tilted his head back and drank the contents of the bowl, a small dribble spilling down his chin. Zuko looked on in mild disgust, his hunger gone quicker than the remains of his meal.

While he had spent years on a small ship filled with men, his uncle made three rules very clear: show respect, always make time to relax, and stay clean. His men kept the ship spotless, minus a few dent and dings on the old ship, and Zuko never had to deal with any of them being less than fully scrubbed and uniformed at all times.

Plus, Zuko thought with a wry smile, mother made sure I was aware of all things hygiene.

A face flashed before his eyes: long, slender face, dark curtained hair, a small smile under sad eyes. While it had been over five years since he had seen her, he would never forget her face.

He stood, brushing the sand off his pants. As Sokka flopped onto his back, moaning in agony, Zuko walked towards the bison that was still resting by the edge of the trees, slowly chewing on some tall grass. As he approached, Appa turned his head slightly to look at him, then after a beat went back to his meal. Zuko walked up to him and gently pat the bison's thick, soft fur. A deep rumble sounded from Appa, and Zuko allowed himself a smile. Good to see you too, he thought.

As he looked across the camp, his hand brushing through the thick fur, his eyes were drawn to a figure emerging from a tent. Katara walked forward wearily, her weight being supported by her brother as he led her to the campfire. Zuko counted backwards, and realized with a shock that she had been gone for about six hours. Has she been healing Aang this entire time?

Zuko once again admired her strength as she slowly drank a bowl of stew. He had fought her several times, bested her a few occasions, but he knew that the waterbender was by far one of the strongest, most dedicated people he had ever met. Her bending ability had grown since their fight in the North Pole, and her determination had driven her to not only stand up to Azula, but to help him.

Zuko looked down, shame washing over him like Katara's bending. He had been so close to home, to his honor...and now here he was, not just a banished prince, but a traitorous one at that. He squeezed his eyes shut, his face growing hot. He breathed deeply through his nose, controlling the inner fire that so often came forth when he lost control.

A few moments passed as he regained control of his emotions. Finally, with one last exhale, he opened his eyes, and found Appa staring directly at him. Zuko blinked, surprised, and then stiffed as Zppa opened his mouth and groaned in his low, deep voice. Zuko stepped back, wary of the large beast that was suddenly uncomfortably close. Appa stepped forward, and before he could react, Zuko was engulfed in a large, wet bison tongue. Appa proceeded to lick Zuko from foot to head, leaving Zuko dripping with bison spit and thoroughly disgusted.

"Gotta love the slime, huh?"

Zuko turned, dribbles of bison spittle swinging off his chin and slapping his hair into his forehead. The small earthbender girl was leaning casually against Appa's last leg, looking over at him. Well, looking towards him - her sightless eyes were hovering somewhere around his left elbow.

Zuko paused, surprised that the girl was even speaking to him. On their flight from Ba Sing Se, she hadn't said a word to anyone, and had studiously avoided him since they landed on the beach. It took him a moment to realize that she had asked a question, and by the time he realized this, he was only able to grunt in response. As he began wiping the drool off his clothes, she continued.

"At this point, your best bet is to jump in the water. Otherwise it'll stay on you for days."

He looked over at her again, and saw that her head had tilted, almost as if she was listening to his movements. How did she know where I was?

"The name is Toph, by the way. Toph Beifong."

At this, Zuko started. Lao Beifong had been 'donating' funds to the Fire Nation for years, to maintain peace in the area, and make sure that the armies stayed well away from his village. If this was his daughter, then maybe she was the reason.

Toph's eyes narrowed, and Zuko cut her off before she said anything else.

"Zuko." He said, trying to nonchalantly wipe more spit out of his hair.

Toph chuckled, and said, "Oh, I know who you are. Why do you think I'm over here?"

Zuko tensed, waiting for the insults, slander, and possible violence from the short girl. But Toph continued to lounge against the bison, an air of calm around her.

An amused smile graced her lips as she said, "You're awfully tense, aren't you, Sparky?"

Zuko blinked, momentarily forgetting the large drip of spit falling off his chin. Sparky? His mind clicked into place, and then the air around him grew hot with his anger as he realized that this miniscule, weak child had given him a nickname. SPARKY?!

"Don't call me that!" he blurted out, and stalked towards the water. Her laughter echoed behind him, but he was too angry to care. First Zuzu, now Sparky...I hate nicknames.

After thoroughly drenching himself in the cold waters of Chameleon Bay, Zuko emerged and surveyed the camp. Lunch was done and cleaned up, and the activity in the camp had calmed somewhat. Zuko looked around, studiously ignoring Toph's gaze, and saw Sokka walking towards him.

Zuko sized him up as he approached. The boy had seemed really aggressive towards him when Zuko had first climbed aboard Appa, but over the course of the day, his attitude had settled on mildly-nervous indifference. However, Zuko had also seen how much the boy had relaxed when they had joined the Water Tribe army. Hakoda must have been quite an influence on his children for the boy to be so trusting.

"Um...hi," Sokka said, stopping about 10 feet away from Zuko. He looked a little nervous to be speaking to him directly, and couldn't seem to settle his eyes as he continued. "My dad wants to start talking about next steps, and...well, I thought...since you know more stuff about...y'know, your dad, and the armies, and things...maybe you should be there?" Sokka had finally decided that the best place to look was somewhere over Zuko's shoulder, and had finished his lame question by shrugging awkwardly and rubbing the back of his neck.

In any other case, Zuko would have found this funny. However, he knew that he did have to be there, because out of all of them, he knew the most about the Fire Nation strategies.

He shrugged slightly, and said, "Lead the way."

Sokka gulped, and sounded slightly strained as he said, "Great. Uh...are you ready now, or do you want to come later, or…?"

Zuko looked at him straight on, not saying anything. Sokka's eyes widened, and he said, "Yeah, now is good, ok…" He then swiftly turned around, and speed walked across the camp towards the largest tent. Zuko followed, chuckling under his breath.

Zuko pulled back the tent flap and walked in. There were several men in here already, standing around talking. Beyond them, Zuko saw that the tent was furnished with furs and hangings, expertly crafted and carved. He approached a small carving that was resting in the corner of the tent. It looked like a piece of wood, sun bleached and smooth, that was supporting a dish that seemed to be built of bone and skins. Inside the bowl, there were 4 rocks, each of them distinctly carved and colored. One of the larger two was a deep blue, and looked to be in the shape of a tigerseal, or maybe a leopardotter. It had a large red splash of color crossing through it's center, interrupting the symmetry of the design. Zuko bent closer, examining the details that had been carved.

"My late wife."

Zuko turned, startled. Hakoda was standing near him, looking on as he examined the artwork. He seemed more relaxed than earlier when they had met; his eyes grew soft as he looked down at the sculpture.

Zuko looked back at the rocks with new eyes. He now saw that the two smaller rocks were also intricately painted - one with sharp, jagged silver designs, and one with a deep and intricate swirling pattern that was almost mesmerizing. Whether from chasing them across the globe over the last year, or from their talk beneath Ba Sing Se, Zuko could tell which was Katara all too easily.

A hand fell on Zuko's shoulder, making him tense. "Let's get started," Hakoda said, stepping away and letting his hand drop. "We have a lot to talk about."

Zuko nodded without looking away from the artwork before him. He took a deep breath, clearing his mind of visions of his own family, and turned to join the conversation. Most of the men had taken a seat around the hearth that sat unused in the center of the tent. Sokka had taken up residence on his father's right side, while a man with barely-healed scars running down his left arm sat on Hakoda's left. Zuko also noticed that King Kuei had joined the meeting, and sat nervously off to the side, his pet bear resting leisurely on his back. The Watertribesman gave them both a wide berth, which made it all too easy to see the nervous and unsure look upon Kuei's face.

Toph had snuck in while Zuko was distracted, and was once again leaning casually off to the side, her arms crossed. Zuko took up a similar position against the nearby tent support as Hakoda spoke.

"We're meeting today to discuss recent events, including the fall of the Earth Kingdom, and to plan our next steps. The events of the last few days will have a lasting impact on our world, so I want everyone present to put their best foot forward in helping us defeat the Fire Nation."

Several men peered over at Zuko, gauging his reaction. He kept his face stoic, knowing that his feelings about the Fire Nation were none of their business.

"Sokka is going to give a rundown of the last few weeks in Ba Sing Se, as well as present some interesting information he learned in the desert." Hakoda nodded to his son, who was looking nervous but determined as he stood.

Sokka stood proudly and gave a long presentation about his experiences from Ba Sing Se, starting from the moment they arrived and fought against a Fire Nation drill. Zuko was not surprised that the Fire Nation had waged such a direct attack against the walls, and even more unsurprised that Azula was behind it. His father had always doted on her, and had given her more freedom to plan and scheme at his side as she became more powerful. He was, however, unsettled that she had been arriving at Ba Sing Se around when he had; that meant that while him and Uncle were struggling in the lower ring and fighting rampant "freedom fighters', she had been plotting her infiltration.

Sokka continued with the story of meeting Long Feng, an advisor to King Kuei, and the disastrous attempts to communicate with the king. Kuei had looked more and more downtrodden as the story went on, as if he had no idea that these events had happened. Zuko scoffed as Sokka talked about Jet's death; that boy was such an annoyance, it was almost sad that he died when he finally saw the light. How ironic.

However, the next bit of the story had Zuko shocked, and paying full attention to the conversation. Sokka mentioned his audience with the Earth King, and how he delivered information of a solar eclipse that was coming this summer. Shocked murmurs rumbled through the gathered warriors, and one man raised his hand.

"Does that mean that on this day, all the Firebenders in the world won't be able to bend?"

"That's exactly what that means," Sokka said, his eyes flickering over to Zuko. The men muttered more at his response, and there was an air of excitement as they continued.

"This is great news!" One warrior had stood, and was speaking to all of the others still seated. "We finally have a chance to win this war! We have to inform the other nations!"

"What other nations?" Another man looked up, his lined face speaking of countless battles. "The Earth Kingdom has fallen, and the Air Nomads are now extinct. The Northern Tribe has made it clear that they will waste no more lives fighting the Fire Nation. We're all that's left."

"That's not true!" Sokka spoke out, interrupting the babble that had broken out at the last statement. "There are several tribes throughout the world that we've met, that would definitely join our cause! There's the people at the Northern Air Temple, the Swampbenders, and the Kioshi Warriors!"

"I've spoken to them!" The tent fell silent as King Kuei spoke. He fell silent as all eyes turned to him, then tentatively raised his head and continued, a small waver in his voice. "The Kioshi Warriors visited the palace several days ago, and I gave them full access to the information we had on the war effort. But then those girls betrayed us and sided with the Dai Li." He looked bashful as he turned towards Sokka. "I don't know if we can trust them after that."

"No, the Kioshi Warriors are the most trustworthy, powerful girls that I know!" Sokka shot back, a hurt look on his face. "The ones that we fought had been after us before, following us as we made our way to Ba Sing Se."

A look of horror dawned on his face, and he faced Kuei again, the intensity on his face making Kuei shrink back. "Did you say that they had access to all of our information? All the details about our attack strategies, including the exact day the attack was happening.

Kuei looked shocked, then his face morphed into a deep disappointment. "All of it."

Sokka slumped, looking defeated. "Then the Fire Nation knows about the invasion plan. There's no way they would let us get behind their defenses, let alone close to their shores."

A heavy silence fell across the tent. The easy, lighthearted banter from a moment before had disappeared, and the mood had turned hopeless once again.

"Continue your briefing, Sokka," Hakoda's deep voice broke through the silence, and Sokka took a deep breath before continuing.

At that point, the story became more familiar: a coup had taken place, and Katara, Sokka and Toph had been kidnapped and imprisoned so that Azula and the Dai Li had direct access to the king. Sokka talked about how Toph had bent them out of prison, and how they had tracked down Appa and picked up Katara, Zuko, and a barely-alive Aang in the palace gardens. He turned to Zuko, inviting him to fill the holes for the group, but Zuko only stared back. After a moment's silence, Sokka finished the story with their travel across the Earth Kingdom, and their arrival at the beach.

Nobody spoke for a moment as the audience processed the information they had received. So much had happened to this group of children over the last few weeks, Zuko was surprised. However, when he thought about it, almost as much had happened to him and his uncle. Jet had been right; Ba Sing Se was a place of new beginnings.

"So, what are we doing?" The loud man from before had once again raised his hand to speak. The other men turned towards their leader, waiting for his direction.

Hakoda was deep in thought. His eyes were downcast, and he was rubbing his chin as his men waited for a response. Finally, he raised his eyes and spoke to everyone.

"In my opinion, we have two options; we either rally our allies and follow through with the invasion plan, or we form a new plan of attack, one that allows us to still maintain the element of surprise, while also taking advantage of the abilities we have." His eyes rested fleetingly on both Toph and Zuko, before continuing. "Of course, without the Earth Kingdom Army on our side, we have to be very tactical about our plans. Every man will be necessary, and we all must accept the fact that we could lose."

Hakoda turned to Sokka, who had watched his father speak. "What was the original plan, Sokka?"