The Art Of Finding Each Other (Zutara)

Indecisiveness

"Zuko, are you really sure about this?" Iroh's tone was gentle yet deadly severe.

The Fire Lord was starting to get a little tired of having his Uncle ask him the same question over and over again since he set foot on the city. Of course he was sure. There was no point in delaying it any longer.

"Uncle, I appreciate your concern. But I think we both know I have to do this." He stretched his arms along the sides of the chair he was sitting on.

"And you want me to be the interim Fire Lord for how long exactly?" Iroh stopped filtering tea leaves out of the multiple pots available to pay closer attention to his nephew.

Well, now that's a good question.

"A month? Two? Maybe more. You do realize my only clue on where to find her is 'Gaipan, Western Earth Kingdom', right?" He let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm hoping to find her as quickly as possible, but there are no guarantees."

"Timing is a weird thing, nephew. We can only learn how to be prepared for its tricks. Don't worry about it, I can cover you for as long as you need. I just wanted to be prepared to leave everything in good condition around here."

"Thank you Uncle, really. It means a lot to me that you are doing all of this. I just hope I can make it worth it."

The old man walked over to where he was sitting. Once he was close enough, he padded Zuko's shoulder in a reassuring way.

"You'll find her, I'm not doubting that. Wherever she is, I know you will." The slightest bit of hesitation suddenly clouded his voice. "There's just one thing that I'm concerned about. Are your friends aware of the fact that you are not coming back to the Fire Nation after the celebrations?"

Zuko's face grew pale when he heard the question. His eyes became wide open as he was hit by the realization that he had no clue of how to break the news to the team. He had gotten so caught up in perfecting the plan to find his mother that he had completely overlooked the fact that the others were in the dark about it. It seemed astonishing how he had assumed he could simply leave without a warning. After all, they had been living together in the Royal Palace for the past several weeks.

Will they even want to return to the Fire Nation, if they find out I'm not coming back with them? Wait, what about Katara and the Medical Center? Am I being selfish by intending to do this on my own? How did I not think about all of this?

"I'm assuming you didn't even mention a word about your plan to them." Iroh said, clearly reading into his livid expression and prompted silence.

"You're right... I didn't." His golden eyes were glistening with frustration.

"Haven't you all been living together at the Palace for almost two months? Are they planning on going their separate ways once the celebrations are over?"

"Uncle, I have absolutely no idea. I don't know what each and everyone one of them has planned for the future. We've ended the war, now everything else on our lives seems like a huge, annoyingly blank page waiting for us."

Iroh sat down on the empty chair next to him. "The blank pages are opportunities, for everyone. There's no need to rush your way around life. But the problem here is that you decided to start writing on that page before letting anyone you care about even know you already had the ink prepared for it."

"I know, I know. All my focus was on setting up a functional enough plan. I just don't know what to say or how to say it. I guess I'll have to figure out a way to tell them without revealing the plan to find Mother. It's too soon, I can't risk it being a dead end. "