Katara wakes up with a small child cuddled up against her and it's absolutely adorable. She stays where she is, just watching the kid sleep until he stirs, yawns, and opens those bright yellow-gold eyes.
He looks up at her, not fully awake, and smiles.
"Huh." Sokka, on the child's other side, is awake much earlier than usual and studying the boy. There's a concerned, slightly confused expression on his face.
"What?"
"It's just-does he look bigger to you?"
Katara looks down. "A little, maybe?" She's really not sure.
The kid looks at him. Offers another one of those beautiful smiles. Sokka can't help but smile back.
Katara sets the boy out of reach of the fire and starts working on breakfast. She keeps an eye on him while she works, and wishes they had something to distract him. So far they've been lucky-the kid is easygoing and sweet-but eventually he's going to get bored, and bored children get into trouble.
She turns to check on him and finds him sitting with his legs crossed, his chubby hands on his knees, his face to the sun. His eyes are closed, and he's breathing in and out almost like he's meditating.
Katara stares, and after a minute the kid opens his eyes and looks at her.
"Hi," she says. She wonders if he knows what he's doing, or if it's something he saw Aang doing yesterday. "Whatcha doing?" she asks.
He tilts his head slightly to the side, frowns at her, then answers.
"Med-i-ta-ting." The word is pronounced slowly and carefully, and it's adorable the way the kid's face screws up in concentration as he says it. Katara wonders, though, how a child this young knows what meditation is, because now that she's looking more closely he's sitting almost exactly the way Zuko always did when he was meditating-before he ran off.
She doesn't want to think about what it means if he didn't take off. Or what will happen if he's betrayed them. They've stayed here too long, if that's the case, but they can't really go anywhere until they figure out what to do with this kid.
Sokka and Aang are going to check the village today, but the chances of somebody claiming a kid with such obvious Fire Nation heritage are low, and they can't just start looking for Fire Nation soldiers to ask if they've lost a baby.
"Meditating already?" she asks, grinning at him even if she's worried, because he is cute. His response is unexpected; he scowls at her.
"I'm big enough." He looks as if he expects her to disagree. She doesn't. It doesn't help. "I have to learn for when my fire comes," he says stubbornly.
"Oh?" Now Katara's curious more than anything else. "You don't have your fire yet?"
He looks at her as if puzzled. "I'm three," he says, as if the answer should be obvious.
"I don't know much about firebenders," Katara admits. Maybe she should. They had one in their group, after all. "Why do you have to meditate if you can't firebend yet?"
The kid's eyes widen. "So I don't ac-accidentally set things on fire," he tells her, and Katara feels her own eyes go wide.
"What do you mean?" she asks, very carefully. The boy frowns again.
He lets out a tiny sigh.
"I have to med-i-tate so I can breathe. And practice my forms."
"You know forms already?" Katara feels a little bit dizzy. She also wishes Zuko were here. He would be able to make sense of this, surely.
The child uncrosses his legs and places them out in front of him. Raising them off the ground just slightly, he also reaches his arms out towards his toes.
"I am a ship," he informs her solemnly, rocking ever so slightly as if to emphasize the statement. Then he drops his legs, scrambles to his hands and knees, and arches his back, pushing his chest forward and pulling his shoulders back. "Now I'm a hippo-cow."
He shows her a few more before resuming a cross-legged position, and Katara has no idea what to do with this information.
She also has no idea when firebenders get their fire, but if the fact that this tiny child is already doing meditation and some baby version of forms is any indication, they start young. She doesn't want to think about a baby firebender running around, accidentally setting things on fire.
As much as she doesn't like the guy, she really wishes Zuko were here.
The kid meditates until breakfast is ready, and Katara isn't sure whether to be impressed or worried. Because that's a long time for a kid so young to be sitting so still. Kids aren't meant to sit still like that, she knows, and it's one reason she tries to go easy on Aang, because Avatar or not, he's still just a kid.
Aang notices the boy meditating as he comes stumbling over, yawning, and doesn't look overly surprised.
"They start almost as soon as they can walk and talk," Aang says. "Just little sessions, though. At least, that's how it was before."
Sokka looks slightly dismayed. "He's a baby."
Aang shrugs. "They have to learn control early, I guess. Fire's a lot more dangerous than the other elements."
"So should we be worried about him starting to firebend soon?" Katara wants to know. The kid makes a pouty face at her, and Aang shakes his head.
"I think they usually start around five or six. I don't think he's old enough yet."
"I'm three," the kid says, and Katara suddenly realizes the boy has said more in just this morning than he has since they found him.
"I'm twelve," Aang offers in reply. "I'm Aang."
"I know," the kid scowls at him, but the airbender just smiles.
"That's right," he says. "You never did tell us your name."
The boy's scowl disappears. "I'm Zuko," he says.
Katara laughs. She's pretty sure that somehow her brother has put the kid up to this. She rolls her eyes and turns to glare at her brother, only to find him staring at the kid.
"That's not funny, Aang," he says, pouting.
Aang looks over at Sokka. "What's not funny?"
"Seriously. Did you tell him to say that?"
Katara looks at her brother. "Didn't you?" Sokka shakes his head.
"Of course not."
Toph interrupts the would-be argument by stomping over and sitting down with her breakfast. "What are you three mad about?"
She's not fully awake yet, never is until after breakfast, or she'd already know the answer. Sokka and Aang both try to answer her at once, their voices overlapping until the half-asleep earthbender can't figure out what they're trying to say.
"Shut up," she says. Then turns to Katara.
"Ask the kid what his name is," she says instead of trying to explain. Toph turns obligingly in the direction of the small child in their midst.
"Okay, kid. What's your name?"
"Zuko."
Toph goes very still for a moment. "Zuko who? From what family?"
The boy blushes. Clearing his throat, he stands, offers a bow that is adorable, and says in that tiny piping soprano of his, "Zuko, first son of Prince Ozai, second son of Firelord Azulon, son of Firelord Sozin."
For a long moment there is nothing but silence while the boy sits and returns his attention to his breakfast.
"He's telling the truth." Toph finally says.
Sokka loses it. Aang loses it. Katara doesn't know what to do with this information-how something like this could even be possible.
"Shut up." Toph says again. "Hey, Zuko." The boy looks up. "What's your favorite animal?"
"Turtleduck." Toph hums softly to herself, as if expecting this.
"What's your favorite food?"
"Fire flakes." Another hum.
"What's your favorite bedtime story?"
"Love among-along-" The kid frowns. "Love of the Dragons."
Toph heaves a sigh. "No doubt about it. It's him."
Sokka's jaw drops as he stares at the kid. "How-but-why-How?" he manages, as if he never expected his stupid theory to be right.
Why would he? It's not possible.
The boy finishes eating and sets his bowl aside. He looks up at them in a way that suddenly reminds Katara very much of their missing firebender.
"How did this happen?" Sokka demands.
Katara doesn't know. All she knows is that there's no way this can be Zuko.
It just can't.
Sokka and Aang reluctantly go check out the village anyway. No one is surprised when they come back with nothing useful. No one is missing a baby Fire Nation kid who thinks he's the son of Firelord Ozai. No one's missing a baby of obvious Fire Nation heritage.
No one's missing a baby at all.
The baby-that-can't-possibly-be-Zuko spends the rest of the morning drawing the alphabet in the dirt with a stick he found somewhere while Toph and Katara try to come up with some reasonable explanation for all this and fail miserably.
Disclaimer: Avatar: the Last Airbender does not belong to me.