It'd been a long, quiet day, she mused, sitting on the front porch of her house with her legs folded under her and a scroll in her lap. A Fire Nation messenger had come through and handed them out to everyone, and her neighbor (such a kind man) had given it to her.

The Fire Lord requests that any with information on the whereabouts of this woman come forward, it said, and above, her royal portrait.

She listened little to news. There was a new Fire Lord, she'd heard, so this wasn't Ozai's doing. But she wouldn't allow herself to be hopeful.

Besides, this was a quiet place, and she liked it. They didn't ask questions about her gold eyes and pale skin, or the fact that whenever strangers came through she hid in her house until they passed. They were kind people, and she was grateful for kindness.

And now someone was looking for her. Perhaps it was time to move on.

She looked up, suddenly, at a faint sound in the distance. There was something in the sky, bigger than a messenger hawk or a buzzard-wasp, and growing bigger. She frowned, and stood, retreating toward her front door before she realized.

A sky bison, she could tell now. And that meant the Avatar. But why would the Avatar come here…?

She stayed where she was, pulling up her brown hood over her hair so that it cast her face in shadow. No matter how foolish, there was still an urge to see this boy that even here, there'd been so much talk about. The boy who'd been gone for a hundred years.

The bison landed surprisingly lightly for such a huge beast, and opened its mouth to roar. Or bellow? She couldn't have said which. There was a boy sitting on its head, and he jumped down, almost seeming to float to the ground.

He looked very young (no older, she thought sadly, than her own son had been when she'd left) his expression set in a grin, and the people here were already flocking forward, murmuring with delight. A young woman and a young man followed him, out of the massive saddle on the bison's back, dressed in blue trimmed with white fur. Water Tribe, then.

"Hi everybody," the Avatar was saying, his grin wide as his face. "I'm Aang – nice to meet you. This is Sokka and Katara, and-" Another jumped down, a green-clad girl even shorter than the Avatar. "Toph. We're just passing through, nice to meet all of you…"

All of his companions. Now what-

Another jumped down, and her eyes widened as he straightened, his gold eyes sweeping around in a slow circle. She would recognize those eyes anywhere.

Her breath caught. My boy…

And the scar. The painfully obvious scar emblazoned over his eye. Her chest tightened and ached for a moment, and then all she felt was anger.

Who dared do something like this to her boy?

She lowered her hood without thinking, and stepped out of the shadow of her house, making herself visible, hoping that he would still know her, afraid that he would not. But as his head turned again Zuko's eyes paused, and he was suddenly very still.

She could see him quiver, a movement almost like a shudder of fear.

And then he was stepping toward her, walking like a ghost through the crowd gathered around the Avatar, gathering speed as he went until he finally reached her.

He was nearly as tall as her now. A handsome young man, even for the scar on his face. But that scar…

"Zuko," she whispered. "My boy."

And she reached her hand up and laid it over his scar, feeling tears fill up her eyes. Seven years. So much could change in seven years. He could be angry with her, or hardly even remember…

He threw his arms around her and pressed his face into her shoulder, just like he had as a little boy, and she could feel his shoulders shake just once. "Mom," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"Shhh," she said, quickly, and moved her hands to stroke his hair. "It's all right. It's always been all right."

Whatever scars he'd gained, whatever pain he'd felt, she was still his mother; and she would always make it better.