It had been a while since Zuko last felt any real animosity towards Aang, but right now, as he traced Appa's flying route through the bison white fur, he found himself cursing the Avatar under his breath with the most offensive words he could possibly think of. In fact, he was contemplating how to throttle the boy without affecting this timeline or reality or whatever it was (which was impossible, of course). The confusion and dread he'd been drowning in in the few hours he spent here seemed to have drawn out his trademark short temper from those days chasing the Avatar, something he thought he had gotten rid of for good. Well-Zuko shrugged-having been attacked, blasted into another dimension, knocked out, tied up and now left alone with absolutely no help that he could seek, he thought he could at least have the privilege of getting angry. After he had gathered himself from his panic attack earlier and regained his rational thoughts to a certain degree, he had sought out Appa's trail-Azula was right, it was way too easy to spot-and had been able to deduce the destination of the group, which was most likely the Earth's kingdom. However, he still hadn't found the answer to the most vital question of all: What was he going to do?

At first, his initial plan had been following Aang. But then, it occurred to him that it would probably do him no good at all. He-as his uncle always said-was the type that act first, think later, but as he was completely stuck on the first part after some consideration of common sense, he decided to just move onto the latter. And that was how Zuko ended up sitting next to a merrily crackling fire that he started to warm himself against the bitter cold of the night in the forest, trying to backtrack the journey he had had (perhaps was having would be more exact) up until this point. He stared dejectedly at the ground as he dragged the stick that he held in his right hand across its surface, leaving some weird illustrations that were his version of whatever fragments of memory that he managed to recall. Although his recollection of the main events were clear, the little details had slipped away from him. For example, he knew that he found Aang at the South Pole and attacked him on Kyoshi Island, but what exactly happened in between the two occasions? Some images flashed brightly in his mind but others were blurred by a hazy fog. Even more troubling was the fact that he only had knowledge of his own adventure, not Aang's. The tip of the stick was now circling the scribbled sign of the Earth Kingdom in an uncertain sort of way. He didn't even know if they were really going there. Zuko then moved his makeshift pen over the drawing of his uncle's face together with his own and tapped at them. He thought back to the date that Katara told him today was. What had he been doing at that particular day? The siege of the North Pole had passed, no doubt. He had been traveling with his uncle afterwards and…oh… Zuko realized with a pang. This was around the time that he was declared a traitor to be hunted. Although he was not so much troubled about the accusation as he used to be back then, the sting was still there. He was unconsciously scrawling Azula's face along with her ship and realizing what he was doing, scratched out the figure. He decided that he would just have to make do with the vague estimation for now. Having sorted that out, his mind went back to the problem stated above: WHAT WAS HE GOING TO DO?

The first person that Zuko thought of going for help was his uncle. The man would know what should be done. He always did. Zuko felt a smile crept up on his face as he moved the stick to circle his uncle's drawn face only for it to be wiped off as his eyes rested upon his own face. Iroh was a no then. He would more likely than not run into his past self there (if he existed-Zuko still wasn't very sure about the concepts here yet) and then who knew what kind of fiasco would happened? Maybe he could follow Aang? Then what? Coming up to the group out of the blue, apology for trying to kill them and then acted like he was their friend all along? As if. Even if they did accept him-which was highly unlikely-who knew what kind of impact that act would have on the future? Zuko didn't always think things through, but he understood that much. Everything he did here might change the future as he knew it drastically, he couldn't risk the chance that this was somehow actually the past and it was connected to his time. He was already trying to quench the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that just by exposing himself, he had doomed their possibility of stopping the war. He shook his head to get rid of the horrible prospect. He was still here. If something had changed, he ought to notice, right?

Zuko threw the stick aside in frustration and brought his hand up to massage his forehead when he felt a headache forming. His few objectives were clear: find a way to get home and try not to change anything. Yet, the two goals contradicted each other. If he wanted to keep things the ways they were, he had to keep himself hidden, which meant no contact with Aang. However, Aang was the one who threw him here, so if he couln't go anywhere near the Avatar, how was he supposed to find out how to go back? On the other hand, if he revealed himself to Aang, he might very well lose the place to go back to. Neither option sounded very appealing. Still, he had never been one to stay still and wait for things to happen. Sozin Comet was still ages away from now. Zuko couldn't imagine just sitting by idly and do nothing until then. No-he reasoned-He had to go after Aang. Even if he couldn't truly be in contact with any of his friends (former friends? Or was that future ones?), he still had to keep in pace with what was going on. He would worry about other stuffs later.

Following Aang it was then. It wasn't the best plan, but it was the only one he'd got.

I've never been able to write very long chapters. I hope this's okay.