Azula was in fact searching the mountains. She, Mai and Ty Lee were relentless. They happened upon the group's hiding spot that very afternoon. It was already deserted, but Azula's trained eye detected signs of human activity. She had just barely missed them.
"I've been thinking," Mai said on their way back. "We expected Zuko to fight with the Avatar, but it seems like he's fully turned instead, and he's helping them avoid us. Why don't we make a new plan to take advantage of that?"
Steam was still boiling out of Azula's ears. "Oh? And what does your idea for such a plan look like?" she asked in her smoothest, deadliest voice.
"Zuko's Fire Nation royalty, and so are you. You know what he knows. You could anticipate what sorts of things he's telling the Avatar and try to catch them in a trap."
Azula stayed quiet. She hated to admit it, but it was a good idea. She'd gone rushing off into the mountains to search without stopping to think through her next moves. She'd been careless! Just like Zuko. She mentally chastised herself. She must never, ever do that. Mai had done her a favor and should be, in some untraceable way, rewarded.
After arranging Mai's untraceable reward, Azula stayed up late that night to make up a new strategy. What sort of things did Zuko know? She had to give up all assumptions of loyalty on his part. She had to assume everything was on the table. Everything. The most private inner workings of their family - he might just be traitor enough to share even those. Once Azula got this straight in her mind, all sorts of options presented themselves. Terrifying options.
She had to force herself to sleep that night. In the morning, she awoke early, strong and alert and ready to continue.
.
They anticipated having to travel a long way to reach the nearest beach. But Katara spotted something interesting on the map. "Guys, look at this. There's a part of the Earth Kingdom where the coastline folds inward. It's like a pouch with a really, really long neck. We can reach the end of it in a day or two."
"It looks more like a spoon to me," Aang said.
"Great!" Sokka announced. "Go to the beach, practice bending sand, then trek through the desert in search of a magical library that may or may not exist."
"Be diligent with your practice," Iroh warned. "Wan Shi Tong's library is not meant to be easily found. The open desert is difficult and dangerous to cross. There are times when you can't afford to take risks, and this is one of them."
Zuko nodded. "The water spirit will have very little power, and the fire spirit isn't the most reliable. Besides, it's not a good idea to take open flame anywhere near a library. There won't be any help from spirits this time. Just us."
Aang let out a sigh. "If there are times when you have to be super serious, are there also times when you can relax and do anything you want?"
"There are," Iroh replied.
"How do I tell the difference?"
Iroh rubbed his beard. "You just know. A gut feeling tells you that the stakes are higher or lower than usual." He frowned. "But that's the sort of sense that you get from experience. It's been a very long time since I was a new recruit. Hmm… What was it like to not have that sense…"
While Iroh tried to remember his youth, Sokka shrugged. "Just be serious all the time. That way, you won't get caught off guard."
"I can't do that, Sokka. I need my downtime."
"But Sokka's right," Toph said. "If you relax and goof off at the wrong time, Azula could catch you in an ambush."
"Iroh has a sense of stakes," Aang said hopefully. "Can we just use that?"
"I'm not a dowsing rod," Iroh said.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean -"
"It's alright, Avatar. I understand. I am willing to help you, but only for a time. You must develop this sense yourself. Without it, you will not be able to defeat the Firelord."
"Hey Zuko, do you have any advice?" Aang asked.
Zuko shrugged. "I never goof off. I don't have this problem."
"That still is a problem though," Katara told him.
"But it's not the same one, so I can't help."
"He's been jumping at harmless jokes as if they were his family members trying to kill him all over again. His sense of stakes is way off. He's the worst person to ask for advice," Toph agreed.
"I have not!"
"I can hear your heartbeat, remember?"
"Guys," Katara called. "One step at a time. Let's get to the beach first."
Off they flew. Aang considered it safest to err on the side of severity, so he urged Appa on. They made it to the inlet within a day. The end of the inlet widened like the head of a spoon, forming a round bowl of water enclosed by broken cliffs. There was not much sand to be found; instead, the ground beneath their feet seemed to consist of crushed rock. "Huh," Sokka said while looking around. "Maybe this place was a volcano that blew itself up. That would explain why everything looks broken."
"Is the inlet artificial?" Katara asked.
"Definitely," Toph replied. "Below the waterline, it joins the bedrock at weird angles. Earthbenders must have opened it to give ships a sheltered place to dock."
"So, ix-nay on the andbending-say?" Sokka asked.
"Not necessarily. We can make our own."
Toph and Aang spent the rest of that evening turning crushed rock to sand. Appa yawned and lay down as soon as they cleared an area large enough for his belly. Momo flew around picking up rocks and bringing them over. Katara and Sokka set up camp while they did that. Zuko picked up his and Iroh's pack and walked away, intending to set up a separate camp like usual. "Where are you going?" Katara asked.
"Setting up camp."
"But you've used the word we. You've joined our quest. Come on. Let's give sharing a camp another shot."
Zuko's grip on the pack tightened. He didn't look happy, but he came back and helped her pick out stones for a firepit. The four of them worked in silence, fearing that speaking would cause a fight to blow up out of nowhere. When Toph declared that they had enough sand to practice on and allowed Aang to rest, the two of them also avoided speaking.
After half of a very quiet dinner, Toph said, "This is eerie. Is there some reason why nobody's talking?"
"Sharing a camp with Zuko hasn't worked well in the past," Katara said. "I guess we're all just worried that talking too much will start a big fight. That's what always happened before."
"But there's nothing to fight about. Is there?"
"I don't know," Zuko muttered. "When I blew up at them in the past, I always thought it was their fault for existing. I didn't know what the real problem was. What if I think nothing's wrong now, and it turns out I missed something?"
"This is the rockiest, least stable alliance I've ever seen," Toph declared. "You people are crazy to keep it going. I mean that in a good way."
Katara laughed. "She's right. It is crazy. Just a few months ago, Zuko was super loyal to his father and country. He had a Fire Nation ship loaded with soldiers, and he was chasing us all over the world trying to capture Aang. How did we go from that to traveling together, and now to camping together?"
"The water spirit intervened," Aang answered.
"Yeah, it did. But I don't think that explains everything. Most of the stuff that happens in this world happens because of people, not spirits."
"Rocky and unstable? If you think that describes our situation now, it's only because you never saw me before we reached the Northern Water Tribe," Zuko told Toph. "Unstable doesn't even begin to describe it. Nobody knew what was going on with me, not even me." He stared into the fire. "Before the water spirit froze my boat, I was stable. I was the same person from one day to the next. When the water spirit forced me to travel with the Avatar, that changed."
Sokka leaned over to Toph. "You see this volcano that blew itself to bits? That's what he was back then."
"Before he started seeing Kalika," Katara remembered. "Before Kalika, we couldn't stand to see each other. After Kalika, we're friends. How did she do that?"
"She listened to me and didn't assume anything. She gave me space to be myself." Zuko touched the beaded necklace that he wore, Kalika's necklace.
"Who's that?" Toph asked.
The circle around the fire went dead silent again. Toph waited a long while for an answer to her question. At last, Zuko said, "A…good person. People like to see me. I do things that make them happier." He looked as if he hardly believed his own words. He took the necklace off and ran it through his fingers.
"Would you have described yourself as a good person before?" Katara asked.
Zuko stared down at the beaded necklace. "No. When I was chasing you around the world trying to capture Aang, I wouldn't have called myself a good person. I would have called myself a person who was trying to be good and failing."
"You're not failing now."
The fire crackled. Insects chirped, whirred and buzzed all around. The devastated volcano was now full of life, small and exploratory as it might have been. No fight erupted in the camp that night. Dinner was delicious, newly made sand moistened with seawater put out the fire with hardly a hiss, and stars shown brightly overhead. Those that could enjoyed the sight of them before going to sleep. Some nightmares came. But then, that was to be expected.
.
The next day, Toph woke Aang up bright and early. She put on her stern teaching face and acted as if she was an expert, despite the fact that her sandbending wasn't much better than Aang's. Aang went along with the act. After all, they were supposed to be serious.
Meanwhile, the others found themselves with free time. Katara suggested they swim out to explore the bottom of the artificial inlet. Having nothing else to do, the others agreed. Iroh, Sokka and even Zuko changed into bathing gear and waded into the water. Katara bent water over their heads in the shape of a bubble before leading them beneath the surface. Momo screeched in protest from above. He didn't like being near flying sand, so he had to entertain himself catching insects in the cliffs. Appa experimentally licked the water, found it salty, and peered down the length of the inlet.
Plenty of fish enjoyed the inlet's isolation. Katara noticed a lot of juveniles and wondered how long ago the inlet had been made, that fish from all the way out in the open ocean had discovered it and made it their new hatchery. They found that the cliffs met the sea floor at nearly right angles. Erosion had softened the corners into curves, and algae grew all over the exposed rock. They swam back to the destroyed volcano and explored some more. Nobody could find predators or dead zones. It was an aquatic paradise.
After that, they enjoyed an ordinary beachgoing day. Sokka attempted to build sandcastles, but something about the new sand kept it from moving in the ways that sand should. It poured and flowed well enough, but it just couldn't stick together. That didn't keep Sokka from trying. He made a respectable-sized sand pile. Katara set new speed records for swimming. Iroh found the salt water very good for floating in. Meanwhile, Zuko disappeared. Katara got bored with competing against herself and looked for him, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Zuko was four-fifths of the way down the neck of the inlet, underwater. He intended to swim just long enough to give his muscles a pleasant burn. He surfaced occasionally for breath, but otherwise stayed submerged. As he pulled himself through the water, he resolutely tried his best not to involve any form of bending. Keeping his inner grip relaxed was very difficult. He had to concentrate very hard in order to stay centered in his own physical body.
Concentrating so hard on his body had predictable effects. A powerful shiver raced up and down his back, freezing him in place. Zuko struggled to the surface and panted for breath. Electric shocks raced up and down his limbs as he paddled to stay afloat. He felt terribly out of sorts. Eventually, he recognized a familiar feeling of balancing precariously on one corner, like a brick midway through turning over. It was a state change.
He dove down. Floating midcurrent, he reached out, extended his fingers as far as they would go. Here, with nobody to see him, he grabbed onto the water and bent it, pushing himself along at great speed. That was the only way he could replicate his missing wings. He bared his teeth as his lack of a tail became apparent. Invisible gills flared in and out in frustration. Instead of stopping where the inlet met the open ocean, he raced out into open water.
Swimming in the open ocean was a much greater challenge. He enjoyed it. Mastering the surging waves of the ocean made him feel powerful; his frustration eased. He frolicked out there for quite a while. He leaped out of the water, dove down to the seafloor, frightened wildlife. It was fun!
The seafloor in this area was shallow enough for light to reach it. While swimming, he noticed a glint. He kept going. Some kinds of rock were reflective. It could also be broken glass or metal. He paid no mind to the reflective object buried in the seafloor. But as he kept swimming, he circled around and saw it glint again. Eh, as long as he was having fun, why not investigate? He dove down and swept a large amount of dirt into the water. It was soft and sandy, and formed a cloud. Even through the cloud, he saw a dark shape fall back down. Whatever it was had no floating ability at all. It must have been dropped very close to this location.
But when he found it and picked it up, he saw that it could not have been dropped in its present location.
Katara resorted to having a splash fight with Sokka. Iroh joined them for a few minutes, then got out of the water to take a short walk around the rim of the destroyed volcano. The two siblings got out of the water a while later to feed and play with Momo. Katara had mentioned Zuko's absence when she first invited Sokka to play with her. As time passed, Sokka looked around more and more often. "Where is that jerkface?" Toph called for lunchtime not long after. Sokka repeated his question.
"He's fine," Toph said while taking a drink.
"He's been fine for close to two hours then," Katara said.
"All we can do is wait," Iroh said. He drooled at the sight of food, then stuffed half of it into his face inside of two minutes.
Zuko finally reappeared. He walked up to the group with his hands held behind his back. "Hey, uh, Sokka."
Sokka blinked up at him. "What?"
"We don't usually get along. But you're a pretty okay guy when we've got business to focus on. So, truce?"
Sokka took a moment to think. "Sure. Truce. If you handle your business and don't make it my business, I promise not to joke about you or call you weird or anything like that." He held out his hand for a handshake.
Instead of shaking, Zuko placed an object into it.
Sokka's jaw fell open. He stared and stared, unable to believe his eyes. He stood up and gave it an experimental throw, exercising muscles he hadn't used in months. The object came sailing back to him. "BOOMERANG!" he cried out, catching it and embracing it. "Oh boomerang! How I've missed you!"
"His boomerang? But he lost it when the water spirit attacked, which was… Practically on the other side of the Earth Kingdom," Katara said.
"It didn't get here on its own," Zuko agreed.
Sokka walked up and grabbed his hand, shaking it firmly. "We're good. A deal is a deal. No more calling you Jerkface. I won't even think it. And any weird thing you want to do is a-okay with me. Dressing up? Sure. Rolling in mud? Go for it. Squawking like an arctic hen? Whatever makes you happy. I won't say a word."
Zuko took his hand back. "I'll hold you to that." Sokka ran off with his boomerang, laughing in delight. Zuko watched him go. "Is it really that important to him?"
Katara explain, "It's a treasured childhood possession. Like a stuffed animal, or a favorite blanket."
"The only childhood thing I dared to get close to was a present from Uncle. As a present, my sister wouldn't be allowed to do anything to it. But she stole it sometimes just to keep me on my toes." Zuko sat down to eat. He looked thoughtful.
"Your family is the worst," Toph told him.
"Let's not think of that too much," Katara suggested. "We're safe for now. We should take this time to relax."
Iroh nodded. "Sandbending is serious business, but right now, nothing else is."
.
"We're splitting up?"
"Yes."
"But we just got back together!"
"Not permanently," Azula reassured Ty Lee. "Just for this next mission."
"What's the plan?" Mai asked. The three of them were alone in Azula's private strategy room.
Azula smiled. It was the sort of smile that made people check to make sure she wasn't holding a knife. "Why waste our precious time on searching when an animal can do it better? We'll use a beast to find their trail. When we know where they're going, we split up. You two will go to a certain location and set a trap. I'll use myself as reverse bait."
.
A/N: Happy Halloween!