Reborn as Katara (OC)

23. Dead Forests

Aang used his free hand to pet Momo while the animal in his lap purred softly.

~With Zuko~

Zuko had kept Luna's necklace in his pocket safe and sound. He knew exactly what he wanted to do with it so he had his ship stop at the nearest town. His Uncle wanted to go and enjoy some hot springs that were recommended by the people at the ship dock so they both parted ways while Zuko went in search of a store that could help him.

"Hello, is there anyone here?" Zuko questioned when he walked into a store he believed could help him.

"Yes, sorry. Just had to take care of something in the back. How can I help you dear?" an old woman said as she walked out of the door that led to the back of the store. She looked very kind and smiled at the fire prince in front of her in a very grandmotherly way.

"Do you have any fabrics for a necklace that are fire-resistant?" Zuko questioned.

"Of course, dear. Let me see the necklace so I know which kind of fabric would hold it best." the woman said kindly.

Wordlessly Zuko reached into his pocket and took out Luna's necklace. He hadn't removed the burned fabric so it looked exactly like it did when he picked it up at the earth-bending prison.

"Oh, that is a beautiful watertribe necklace. Who's the lucky girl?" the woman questioned as she examined it carefully. Her voice held no judgement which was something that surprised Zuko.

"It's complicated," Zuko muttered with pink-tinted cheeks as he averted his eyes.

"All the best love stories are, dear. After all, that's what makes life interesting, is it not?" the woman said with a chuckle.

"So what kind of fabrics do you think you could use? Money is no issue, I'll pay whatever you want." Zuko said getting back to the matter at hand.

"I think silk would be best. It's not entirely fireproof but it doesn't catch fire easily and it would be best for the comfort of the person wearing it." the woman explained as she set the necklace down on the counter and picked up a container that held examples of her silk fabrics.

"Go ahead and pick the color you would like me to use and tell me if there is anything else you want done with the necklace." the lady explained to him as she opened the container to show that she had multiple colors of the silk fabric to use.

"I would like for you to make it an adjustable necklace but I want it secure so that it can't fall off easily," Zuko explained as he disregarded any of the silk examples that weren't blue.

"That's doable." the lady nodded as she wrote down what he wanted done with the necklace and thought of how she would do it.

"This one, it's perfect," Zuko said with a genuine smile on his face as he finally found the perfect fabric. It was the exact same color as his Saphire's eyes.

"Oh, you have exquisite taste. I'm sure the lucky lady will love it." the woman told him as she took the fabric from his hands to put on the paper with her notes.

"Come back in 1 hour and I'll have the necklace ready for you." the lady explained.

"Thank you," Zuko said gratefully.

"Anytime dear. It's always a treat to see young love," she said with a smile.

After he left the store Zuko went in search of his uncle. He knew that if his uncle was relaxing in a hot spring then it would take forever to get him to leave it. So he thought he would try once right now and then come back after he had picked up the necklace.

"Uncle, it's time to leave. Where are you? Uncle Iroh!" Zuko shouted as he tried to find the place his uncle was at.

"Over here." his uncle's voice said from just beyond the bamboo forest.

"Uncle? We need to move on. We're closing in on the Avatar's trail, and I don't want to lose him." Zuko told his uncle.

"You look tired, Prince Zuko. Why don't you join me in these hot springs and soak away your troubles?" Iroh joked with him, knowing that his nephew would not actually join him.

"My trouble cannot be soaked away. It's time to go." Zuko repeated once again.

"You should take your teacher's advice and relax a little. The temperature's just right. I heated it myself.'' Iroh said as he put his hands together and breathed out through his nose letting steam out.

"Uncle, come on, we need to leave now,'' Zuko said again.

"Very well.'' his uncle said standing up but unfortunately for Zuko, his uncle wasn't wearing anything so when he stood up Zuko got a sight that he didn't want to see so he turned away and closed his eyes.

"On second thought, why don't you take another few minutes? But be back at the ship in half an hour.'' Zuko said turning around to walk away.

"Ahh,'' Iroh sighed as he closed his eyes in content.

~With the Gaang~

"Are you ready for some cheering up?'' Luna asked him as she threw an acorn at his bald head.

"Ow, how is that going to cheer me up?" he asked confused as he rubbed where the acorn hit him.

"Hahaha, cheered me up," Sokka said laughing only to get an acorn thrown at him.

"Ow, yeah, I probably deserved that," he said rubbing where she hit him.

"These acorns are everywhere Aang, that means the forest will grow back. Every one of these will be a tall oak tree someday. And all the birds and animals that lived here will come back." she explained with a smile as she sat down on the floor next to him and placed an acorn in his hand as proof of her words.

"Thanks, Luna," he said with a smile on his face now too.

"Hey, who are you?" Sokka questioned as they all stood up when they saw an old man walking towards them.

"When I saw the flying bison, I thought it was impossible, but those markings... are you the Avatar child?" the old man questioned Aang and completely ignored Sokka.

Aang looked over to Luna to see how he should answer him and when he got an encouraging nod in return he nodded his head yes to the old man.

"My village desperately needs your help." the old man told Aang with a pleading look on his face.