Fire You Are (Zuko Love Story)

Prelude

"Come on, Twinkle Toes, where are you?"

"Could anyone have spotted him?" Zuko asks me. 

"No," I say. "And especially not without making a racket before taking him; we would have noticed. Aang left on his own."

"Why would he leave?"

I lean on a tree and look into the seemingly endless forest.

"Yesterday, he and I talked," I say. "He's troubled since he doesn't want to kill the Fire Lord."

"Is he still going on about that?" Zuko says.

"You would be too!" I say. "He's just a kid, and he's a pacifist."

"So?" Toph says. "I'm just a kid, and I realize what we have to do to end the war."

"Yes," I say, "but you and Aang come from very different environments. Please understand that, maybe Aang just needs to think it through."

"Well, then, what's a good place to think?" Zuko says.

"Knowing Aang?" I say. "Probably here. But just about searched the entire forest."

"Yeah..." Zuko replies. "Look maybe we should just return to the house. Maybe the rest had more luck than us."

We head back only to find the rest of our friends empty-handed as well. We sit down in silence, worried about Aang and concerned about where he could be that we're missing. 

"Any ideas?" I ask Sokka.

He looks up at the sky, then at the ground, then at the ocean, then at me.

"None," he says.

I sigh.

"Well... maybe he'll just come back to us?" Toph says.

"I don't know," Katara says. "Even if he did, it's not safe for him to be wandering about alone."

"In the Fire Nation, no less," I add.

"And so close to the comet's arrival," she finishes. "I think we need to focus all our energy on finding him."

"But how?" Toph says. "We can't track him down if he didn't leave any traces."

"Wait," Zuko says. "Track down?"

"What do you think we've been doing?" Toph rolls her eyes.

"No, yeah, but..." Zuko says. "I know who can help us. But I need something that smells like Aang."

"Okay..." Katara says. She goes inside and starts rummaging for any of Aang's possessions only to find that he doesn't really have that many. Finally, Katara's able to retrieve a headband Aang apparently wore while he was still "dead" to the Fire Nation.

"Zuko, what are you up to?" I ask him.

"I know someone," he says, "a woman named June. She can track down anyone. If we bring this to her, she'll locate Aang for us."

"Seriously?" I ask. "Just like that?"

"Yeah."

"Well," I say. "I really hope it works then. Where is she?"

"Not far," he says, "but not on Ember Island. We need to go now."

"Alright then," I say. "Everyone, grab your essentials."

"All set," Sokka says. "There's not much we're carrying anyway, and since Sozin's comet is like, right around the corner, carrying a lot of things is the least of our worries."

"Then everyone get on Appa," I say. 

We get on Appa's saddle. Zuko sits just at the back of Appa's neck ready to lead Appa to wherever this June is. The journey is quiet and long; it feels neverending to us. I can't help but feel like the more we move, the farther away we get from Aang. I look down at the land just to see if by any chance I can spot Aang, but it's useless.