During the ride, as the much lighter sleds hit ruts and divots in the snow, Sokka was tossed about. After one especially loud and creative burst of swearing, Katara turned her face into Zuko's back to laugh. The action caused him to shiver and sit upright, feeling his heart beating in his throat. He kept wanting to respond, to joke with her about something that had happened - Isn't this better than the pirates? - but she wasn't his Katara.
Zuko grimaced. No, this isn't a Katara I know.
The misplaced familiarity conflicted with his paranoia to keep this guise in place. It was just more difficult simply because he hadn't the time to adjust before he saw Katara, of all people. The woman who had actually listened to him, had offered to heal him, and who he had done everything to try and protect.
As he felt her warmth at his back, he was terrified that he would say something to give himself away. Even the smallest of things could prove to be his undoing.
Wild-eyed, Zuko glanced over without turning his head to see Lu Ten watching him. Once their eyes met, Lu Ten shrugged in an exaggerated fashion and turned away, pulling his mount to the right. Zuko set his shoulders and tried to calm himself down. As it was, no one had noticed anything too out of the ordinary with him.
The only positive to being socially awkward since childhood.
"Are you okay?" He asked, once he was sure no one was paying attention to him.
"Why?" Katara asked, suspicious. Shards of ice prickled in his neck and chest. He tried to swallow, and failed multiple times before gulping a lump down. He was starting to shake.
"It's just." Zuko fumbled over his thoughts and couldn't find a coherent sentence. "I was hoping our first meeting wouldn't be. Bad." He added firmly and gripped the reins tightly.
"I don't see how it could have gone well." Katara remarked. "Considering the decades of slaughter your nation inflicted on my people."
"I didn't slaughter anyone." Zuko mumbled, feeling childish and petulant.
Katara scoffed, but it sounded almost like a chuckle.
"That's why it didn't go poorly." She said. They were quiet for a moment and Zuko felt her lean away from him.
"What's your name?" She asked suddenly. Zuko frowned, confused. Then he remembered his unintentional duplicity and cleared his throat.
"I'm Zuko."
"You're a prince right? You don't look like the other soldiers." Katara added when he didn't answer right away.
"I am."
"So the chatty one is your brother?"
Zuko looked about for Lu Ten and saw him engaged with a soldier. Lu Ten laughed and the soldier urged his mount faster with a sharp call.
"Cousin." Zuko replied. As a swarm of memories washed over him, he spoke again, quickly. "I have a younger sister."
"Is that why you invited my brother?" Katara asked. Zuko tried to imagine being protective of Azula. It was not an easy picture to conjure and he frowned again.
"Sure." He replied, not wanting to engage that any further.
"Are you really going to take me to the North Pole? Or is this another raid?" Katara questioned.
Zuko smiled, though she couldn't see it, and laughed lightly.
"Do you think I'd tell you the truth if it was a raid?" He asked in reply.
"I trust you. You have a kind face." She said.
That was a sucker punch to the gut. Remembering all the times he had been called grumpy or unpleasant, just by the nature of being scarred, made his smile dissolve on his face.
But he wasn't burned now.
There had been many, many times where Zuko had wondered what his life would have been like had he not faced his father in an Agni Kai. He knew, deep down, that he would have eventually been banished at some point. But perhaps it would have been to a far-off outpost in the Earth Kingdom, where he couldn't do any harm. He would have been alone, till his father recalled him for some political purpose.
Or else dispatched him quietly in a place where people could easily disappear.
In this timeline, Ozai hadn't become Fire Lord, so there would be no opportunity for banishment or a quiet, concealed murder. Whatever intrigue had been put into motion had nothing to do with him and he had not been injured. He had new opportunities.
He had a kind face now.
"Trying to think of a lie?" Katara asked, rousing him from his thoughts.
"Sorry." He said quickly. "No, there's nothing sinister going on. But that doesn't mean I actually understand everything that's happening."
Katara made a noise of acceptance. She didn't say anything further, and Zuko started to relax. The scenery around their path was distracting, as the ice glinted in the sunlight. It must have been evening, as Zuko's body started to feel heavy. But with the sun still high overhead, his head started to swim.
It was also odd to hear the crashing of small waves, and yet see no sand. The beaches were slush and ice, melting a bit as the ocean lapped at the shoreline. They were staying away from the slush of course, as their mounts barely tolerated the packed snow, but the discordant feel of the shore made Zuko uneasy.
He mentioned as much to Katara and she laughed.
"Have you ever seen snow before?" She questioned. Zuko paused, trying to think of a time before his exile.
"The mountains in the middle of my country. Their peaks are white." He said, not really giving a proper answer.
"Well, just wait till I see a tree." Katara replied. "That'll really be something."