An Earlier Intersection

DISCLAIMER: I've said it time and again, Avatar: the Last Airbender is no possession of mine. So this is merely my humble tribute to it.

NOTE: This is the multi-chapter Zutara story I promised before. It is also a response to the poll on my profile which shows that so many of you are interested in seeing me write Zutara again.

This is not going to be as long as my other stories but I hope that you will still like it. For now, this is the only idea for a Zutara that I have left so I'm going to act on it while I still can. It's been a while so bear with me.

And I'll be out of town for a while so the earliest that I can update this will be March 18. Sorry for the delay.

The story is set in Book 2, sometime between "The Blind Bandit" and "The Chase." Enjoy.

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"Hey guys, look at this!" Sokka cried out excitedly.

"Sorry, I can't," Toph replied sarcastically, making the Water Tribe Warrior feel slightly embarrassed. He was still not used to having a blind earthbender in the group.

"Sokka, we don't have time to waste looking at 'Wanted' posters," Katara remonstrated, "besides, we've already seen hundreds of weird interpretations of Aang's face. I think we can live without seeing another one."

"I don't mind looking at some new ones," the Avatar chimed in cheerfully, "I hope they get my nose right this time. And they better not make my ears too big again. Although it does help if my posters are inaccurate since it makes the real me less recognizable."

"I'm not talking about Aang's poster," Sokka argued, "although this one is pretty amusing…. No, I meant these other two!"

And with that, Sokka pointed at two other posters on the large tree they were standing near. Aang moved closer to the trunk that was plastered all over with "Wanted" posters. Even Katara grew curious about this so she decided to take a peek as well.

They saw what Sokka had been fussing about and could not help but share his surprise. For beside the poster of the Avatar and a bunch of other notorious criminals, were posters of General Iroh and Prince Zuko.

"Now, there are two people you don't expect to see on 'Wanted' posters," Sokka commented.

"What are Iroh and Zuko doing here?" Aang voiced what everyone wanted to ask.

"Who?" Toph asked, "Okay, somebody is going to have to explain all this to me some time."

"Long story, Toph," Aang told her, "I'll tell you about it later."

"Well, you'd better," the disgruntled earthbender replied.

She didn't like being left out of anything. That's what she liked about sensing everything through her feet. But there were certain things that even her acute senses could not tell her, and whenever she didn't know these, she remembered her blindness.

But she had also learned that there was a lot that could be discovered by simply listening. So she decided to discreetly pay attention to her new companions. Something interesting would surely come up in their discussions.

"Well, what do you know?" Sokka remarked, "No wonder we haven't been chased around recently. Our hunters have become the hunted as well."

Katara read through the descriptions of the two new fugitives. She was as surprised as her brother and friend to see the faces of their former enemies on those posters. She wondered how things could have turned out so badly for the haughty prince and his kind uncle.

"It says here that they are now considered traitors to the Fire Nation," Katara read the descriptions out loud, "do you think this has something to do with Iroh helping us out at the North Pole?"

"Probably," Sokka replied, "there were enough witnesses around to testify that Iroh went against Zhao. And I guess that since they branded the uncle, they might as well do the same to the nephew. Those two seem like a package deal anyway."

"Maybe if would have been better for them if they just joined up with us after Zhao went down," Aang suggested.

"I don't think Iroh would have minded," Sokka said, "but there was no way his nephew would agree to that. He was obsessed with capturing you. And frankly, I don't think I'd get along with that jerk at all."

"I don't think I could trust him," Katara admitted, "And how could we take such a big risk of letting him join us?"

"I guess you're right," Aang conceded with a sigh. He continued to read the posters with interest.

"There's a bounty on both their heads," Aang observed, "I can't believe the Fire Lord would do something like that to his brother and his son."

"I don't understand how he banished his own son in the first place," Katara said, slightly sympathetically, "what terrible, unforgivable thing could Zuko have done to deserve such punishment?"

"Well, the father we're talking about is the Fire Lord, after all," Sokka rationalized, "you know, the man who's been responsible for prolonging the war and continuing a legacy of pain and suffering. I don't imagine his family life is any fun."

"Apparently not," Katara conceded, looking once more at the poster of the banished prince, "talk about harsh."

It wasn't a very flattering depiction of Zuko. His scar had been exaggerated and covered almost half his face and he had a contemptuous scowl on his face. It was all the artist could do not to add horns and fangs to make the picture look more like a monster.

Katara pondered on this for a few moments. Though he had been their enemy, he did not deserve to be discarded so easily by his own father. She didn't think it was fair, especially considering how hard he had worked to try and capture Aang. She would never approve of his actions but she had to give him some credit for his perseverance.

She remembered the last time she had seen him, at the North Pole. He had come alone then, without his ship or his men. He had risked everything to infiltrate the Northern Water Tribe just to capture Aang. It wasn't a very well-thought-out plan, she thought, but it showed his unwavering resolve. He had said something about regaining his honor when he had captured her. She was not sure what that meant in Fire Nation culture, since she didn't believe honor to be something to be given or taken away from someone like a title or possession. But she could see that Zuko was willing to do whatever it took to return home.

He had looked so different at the North Pole. She had not recognized him for a moment, not only because he was dressed in winter clothes. He was haggard and clearly exhausted. His breathing was heavy; it had been clear that he was exhausted and unused to the harsh cold climate. He had bruises and scratches on his face, like he had just been in an accident. And though she knew that her improved waterbending skills and her being on home turf had given her the clear advantage in her re-match with him, she somehow felt that he would have put up more of a fight if he had been in a better condition.

Katara found herself wondering what happened to the Fire Nation prince in between all their encounters. She was sure that he had had to deal with hostility from people all over the Earth Kingdom. Though he had soldiers with him, he did not have enough to conquer any cities on his own. And after Katara had seen the enormity of the Fire Nation fleet, she knew that Zuko's ship was tiny by comparison.

The waterbender suddenly realized that though they had been dealing with the banished prince for so long, there was still so much they didn't know about him. Well, it wasn't like they had had opportunities to chat or swap life stories. But still, Katara was suddenly more curious about Zuko.

"I feel bad for them," Aang said, interrupting Katara's reverie, "we're lucky we have Appa to travel with. Those two are literally on the run. I can't imagine having to walk all the way around the Earth Kingdom."

"I guess we're in a much better situation than they are," Sokka conceded, patting Appa affectionately. The sky bison gave a short roar of assent.

"Well," the Water Tribe Warrior continued, "if that's the case, it isn't likely that we'll be running into them anytime soon. And if we do, I don't think it will matter much anymore."

"Do you think Zuko's given up on capturing Aang?" Katara asked.

"The question is: do you think the Fire Lord will change his mind if Zuko does capture Aang," Sokka replied matter of fact-ly, "by the looks of it, Zuko and Iroh are going to be too busy trying to survive to worry about Aang."

"Maybe," Katara conceded, though she wasn't entirely convinced.

"If you guys are done speculating about the Fire Nation Royal family," Toph interrupted impatiently, finally tired of being ignored, "don't you think we should get a move on?"

"You're right," Aang agreed immediately, "we've lingered here too long."

"I'll say," Toph said, "and you're going to start your earthbending training soon."

"Right," Aang said excitedly, suddenly remembering why Toph had joined them. The Avatar eagerly mounted his sky-bison with Toph following reluctantly.

"Well, this was an interesting little break," Sokka said with a shrug, before mounting Appa as well.

Katara was about to do the same when she hesitated for a moment and took another glance at the wall of "Wanted" posters. She looked towards the group and saw that a little argument had erupted over Toph's dislike for traveling by air. So none of them noticed when the waterbender discreetly tore out the posters for Aang, Iroh, and Zuko and kept these hastily in her satchel. She would destroy them all as soon as she had the chance. So as not to arouse suspicion, she quickly climbed up on Appa and rejoined her friends.

Katara was surprised by her actions and was glad that the others had not seen her. She didn't know how she would explain anything to them right now. She could not even understand herself.

She usually got rid of Aang's posters but she wondered now why she bothered to do the same for the other two. She didn't dwell on it; she didn't want to. She decided that she was just doing them a little favor and that was all there was to it.

"This should keep some crazy bounty hunters off your trail for a while," she thought, silently addressing the firebenders, wherever they were.