Chapter Text
When Zuko had been hunting the Avatar he'd spent hours upon hours pouring over maps with Uncle, trying to figure out the pattern behind the boy's sporadic travel. It turns out, there was no pattern, the boy was just entirely irresponsible to the point of strategy. A strategy they called 'mini vacations'.
His first day as a part of "Team Boomeraang" consisted of listening to the water tribe siblings and Aang and Toph argue in turn. All while getting used to flying hundred of feet in the air on Appa.
When they finally landed for Aang to practice Earthbending it was clear that there was a power struggle happening. Toph was pushing Aang around and Aang was too passive to protest, and it was pissing Toph off.
But it was clear that Zuko, or Blue, hadn't earned everyone's trust. Both of the Water-tribe siblings kept an eye on him, he could feel their gazes on the back of his head. Zuko was just glad that some people in this group had some sort of caution. He could always respect that.
So when Aang and Toph were out training and working out their issues, Zuko sat down with Katara and Sokka to discuss the Fire Nation. He was trying his best to be patient, but it was beginning to get painful.
"So," Sokka began, "How do we defeat the Fire Nation?"
Zuko couldn't help but huff, he shrugged. No point in writing out 'I don't know'.
"Too vague of a question maybe," Sokka nodded, "What about it's weaknesses, where are its vulnerabilities, places of low defense? Something we can exploit!"
Zuko knew the one thing he could mention, The Day of the Black Sun, but surely there were some Firebending secrets he should keep to himself, right? The Black Sun wouldn't be for months, so maybe it'd be safest for 'Team Boomeraang' and the people of the Fire Nation for the Day of the Black Sun to remain a secret? Zuko wasn't sure.
Katara chimed in, saving him, "What about its prison weaknesses? We know you broke Aang out of a Fire Nation prison," Katara asked.
That's something Zuko could work with. 'Fire Nations are always anticipating an attack, so it's best to do the opposite.'
"What do you mean?" Katara pressed.
'If I had attacked any of the prison guards directly they would've been able to raise the alarm, stealth is the best way to infiltrate anyplace Fire Nation.'
"Thanks Blue, that's really helpful!" Sokka said with a grin, "Wanna help us plan the trip to our next stop?"
Zuko nodded, it'd be great to make their travel a bit more purposeful.
The distant sounds of earth-bending came to an end and Aang and Toph rejoined them, seeming to have resolved their issues.
"Actually," Aang chimed in, "It's Katara's turn to chose a mini-vacation!"
"How about the Misty Palms Oasis?" She offered, looking over the map.
It might be good for Aang to practice more water-bending, Zuko tried to rationalize.
When they arrived it was clear the Oasis was not how Aang remembered it and there would be no water-bending practice, the oasis was more of a sand-pit than anything. Which was really beginning to bother Zuko, the heat of the sand made it hard to differentiate body heat and surface heat. Toph felt the same, though she complained about it as she pleased.
They passed through the dried out oasis, the icey remnants of it a mere slab. They entered only open tavern.
"I don't see anything wrong with having one of those fruity beverages while we plan our strategy," Sokka said, surely with a grin.
In his rush he ran into a fellow traveler, spilling his drink onto the not-far-behind Aang and silencing the bar. The man turned out to be friendly enough, ecstatic to meet a living air-bender he introduced himself as Professor Zei from Ba Sing Se University.
Zuko listened and analyzed the man's words, he didn't seem to have any bad intentions, maybe just a bit too forward with what he asked Aang. Zuko silently stepped in and stopped the man from measuring the boy's head, maybe forward was an understatement.
Professor Zei told them about his anthropological dream of finding the Wan Shi Tong Library, which is said to contain unlimited information. Perhaps even information on the Fire Nation that Zuko hadn't shared with them yet, he was still trying to protect his people to some extent after all.
"Ok!" Sokka said, "As my mini vacation I choose the mysterious library!"
Zuko could only sigh, he should've expected this. He wouldn't be getting away from the sand anytime soon.