As they walked past a log, Suki shoved bowls at both of them with enough force that Zuko tottered backwards. He forced himself to sit, not wanting to test the stabilizing force of his knee. Katara had held her ground, yanking up on the bowl so Suki had to relinquish some force. With a huff, Katara sat down on the log next to Zuko.
"So how do you know me?" Suki demanded. She crossed her arms over her chest and Zuko stared up at her while he slurped on the thin congee in the bowl.
"He's-" Katara started but was cut off as Suki pointed her closed fan at her.
"I'll get to you in a minute." She said and crossed her arms again. "You, prince, now."
Zuko swallowed and lowered the bowl.
"I told you, I know you in a different timeline."
"So how did you get here?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I barely believe it myself."
"He knew my mother's name." Katara interjected. Suki looked at her and Zuko distracted himself with eating.
"So?" Suki asked.
"I'm from the South Pole and I had never even heard of him till he showed up at my village. But he knew my dead mother's name. Because I, we were all friends. To him." Katara said. Feeling their eyes on him, Zuko focused on the bowl.
"And what can you say about our friendship then?" Suki asked. Zuko sighed and swayed his head, forcing himself to look up.
"Not much. You were the only one of the group who saw me more often at my best than at my worst. So you were kind, but you were more focused on your warriors and." Zuko cleared his throat. This Suki was much more abrasive than the Suki he knew, and Zuko didn't think this one would care too much about an alternate version of her life with Sokka.
"Look, I think the fact that Zuko is being nice to you when you were trying to kill his mother says a lot." Katara snapped. Zuko jolted and he felt himself rooted to his seat.
"His mother? Why would we care about her?" Suki blurted.
"Then who were you going after?" Katara demanded.
"That's none of your business." Suki shot back.
"Suki, were you going to kill someone?" Zuko questioned, incredulous.
"Oh don't you dare try to judge me princeling. You and your family has killed so many people, including my own people!" Suki said.
"So what are you going to do now." Zuko surged upward and the other warriors were delayed in reacting. Suki already had her fan at his throat before his bowl hit the ground.
By the sacred flame, her face was exactly the same.
"We could kill you." She said.
"Both of us? Because I can tell you now, it'll be bad enough if you kill me but if Katara dies I guarantee you it won't be fire that brings you down." Zuko replied.
"You think that by telling me some fairy tale I'm just going to let you go back? You'll tell everyone who I am."
"If you're the same kind of woman as my friend, I would never do such a thing. The Suki I know is the most honorable, level headed, and just woman I have ever met."
Suki clenched her jaw and Zuko saw the muscle twitch under her skin.
"How dare you." She whispered. Zuko didn't reply.
"You cannot use some mirror version against me." Suki stated, her voice firm. "I don't know you and we are not friends."
"But we could be."
"And what does your friendship bring?"
"The end of war."
Suki and Zuko stared at each other, neither wavering. Then, as quickly as she snapped her fan shut, Suki stepped away from him.
"Then tell me how I can defeat the Fire Nation. Give me something so I know I can trust you." She said.
"I can't."
"What do you mean you can't?"
Katara stood and grabbed Zuko's hand.
"He means he can't. He doesn't understand this world." Katara looked at him and her face softened. "The war was different there."
"So how can you offer me the end of the war?" Suki questioned.
"It wasn't just me. There were more of us. You, Katara, her brother," Zuko realized that he still held Katara's hand and his throat tightened. "She and Sokka found the Avatar. Then they found Toph and all of us did it."
"The Avatar is alive?" Suki asked.
"Yes. We think he's here in the Earth Kingdom."
"Yokoya." One of the other women whispered. Zuko had almost forgotten about them and shook himself at the word.
"What was that?" He asked.
"Nothing." Suki snapped. "So is that why she's with you? Are you collecting us all again or something?"
"No it's, I don't know how this is happening. I do know that when they were heading to the North Pole they stopped near Kyoshi Island and you found them." Zuko said.
"But not like this."
"No, not like this."
"What happens next?"
"I'm not really certain. I had to deal with the Fire Navy and you didn't go with them to the North Pole. I met them there and," Zuko halted and glanced at Katara. She looked confused as he let go of her hand. "An admiral in the Navy killed the moon spirit, I kidnapped the Avatar, the North Pole princess sacrificed herself to become the new one, and I let the admiral die."
"Oh yeah, you really sound like a friend I want to have." Suki said.
"I got better." Zuko retorted.
"So it is a mirror." Suki stated and finally sat down. Zuko and Katara hesitated but also sat back on the log.
"What do you mean?" Katara asked.
"It's Zuko right? We haven't actually introduced ourselves thanks to your magical precognition." Suki said dryly. Zuko cleared his throat again and nodded.
"My name is Suki, and I am the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors." Suki gestured to the women behind her and Zuko nodded his greeting.
"I am Zuko, prince of the Fire Nation, and I am honored to meet you." He said in return, giving a truncated version of a salute. He then straightened and turned slightly to open the line of sight to Katara.
"This is Katara of the South Pole." He said.
"His friend." Katara added, her eyes narrowed. Suki snorted and rubbed her temple.
"Look, what I'm hearing is that the Waterbender found the Avatar first and then you switched teams before joining last. Is that right?" She asked.
"About right." Zuko answered.
"So maybe the Avatar is at the end of all this. And I don't know if I want to wait that long." Suki said.
A knot formed in Zuko's stomach. He hadn't considered that there would be any symmetry at all between these lives. Finding Aang as soon as possible was imperative, since Zuko had no idea what was going to happen or how he was supposed to help. And if there were mirrored points, there was a chance that Aang wouldn't be what they expected.
The Aang he knew had run as a child before getting frozen in the Avatar State. Zuko had expected that this Aang was a little older but still trapped in stasis somewhere. A cave-in or something that triggered the Avatar State.
What if Aang had chosen to stay hidden? What if he had been watching this unfold for one hundred years as Zuko had thought in the beginning?
What if the Avatar was a coward?