The Art Of Finding Each Other (Zutara)

Frame Of Mind

If there was one thing Katara wasn't expecting in the middle of all the craziness she had endured for over a year now, it was to find herself traveling across the Fire Nation, with Azula by her side, right after kissing her brother, the day after rejecting the boy from the ice.

Post-war drama just kept getting more and more curious.

The first day of traveling had turned out surprisingly fine. Despite the occasional bickering between Azula and, well, everyone, and Sokka and Toph's complaints about how they should've packed more food, everything appeared to be running smoothly. Not much about the cause of their trip was talked about during their path to the Lun Yang Islands, though it seemed like the right thing to do. They all knew why they were there, on the move, trying to lay as slow as possible. There was nothing that wrong with striving to preserve a cheerful ambiance while they still had the chance. And Spirits knew they needed that positivity.

Katara had tried to juggle between the jitters the trip caused her, the happiness she felt due to her situation with Zuko, and the remorse she sensed every single time Aang looked at her. Closer interactions with her friend had been limited, though nothing suggested there was any considerable animosity between them. Still, she had a feeling Aang wouldn't be particularly thrilled if he found out about her new closeness to Zuko. A closeness that was bound to remain secret for at least some time, even if they both hated keeping it from the others.

Though, being honest, Katara wasn't even all that sure of what exactly she and Zuko were hiding from their friends. Because, even if they had confessed to having feelings for one another, there were still a million other things to account for. Everything intertwined with their future seemed like one gigantic blur. The only certainty at the moment was the purpose of their search. And... that they both felt something more than mere friendliness towards each other. That was all that she knew, and not even those aspects of their existence were set in stone. Granted, they hadn't gotten much of a chance to talk about it, but that didn't erase the precariousness of the situation. Despite all of it, she wanted her relationship with Zuko to keep evolving in the direction it seemed to be headed to. And she sure was going to put in the effort to make things work.

The sun had already started to settle down for the day, giving way to a cold nighttime breeze. On the horizon, the islands started to become visible, inviting the group to pick up their pace and wind down for the evening. But the quietness of the late hours had the potential to bring its own share of complications with it, leaving space for more serious thoughts and hidden concerns to come out and wander into the night.

"Here," Zuko said, pointing at the piece of land ahead of them. "Let's just stop in one of those clears by the shore and set up camp there."

"Alright," Aang complied. "Appa, come on buddy, rest is near."

"You are all tired already? Whoa," Azula grimaced, a bored expression set on her face.

"Appa is exhausted from carrying our weight all day long," Katara clarified. "Still, we wouldn't be able to do that much searching around town at these hours."

Toph smirked. "Unless you wanted to stomp on every door, princess."

Azula's eyes shimmered. But before she got a chance to say anything she found herself being rapidly interrupted.

"Which we will not do, thank you very much," Suki sighed.

"Who said anything like that?" Toph fumed. "Come on, let's go down, I want to eat already."

"We're on it," Sokka said, tilting his head to look down. "Just a second and we'll be on firm land..."

Once they had unloaded everything from Appa, the group started to set up the camp for the night. Luckily, it didn't take them long. There was barely anything to begin with: a tent for each one of them and enough food for one or two nights. That was it, just the necessary to get to Hira'a. From there, it was all one huge question mark.