If Zuko were to ask Mother Nature how he got into this mess, he'd find the answer whispered against the shell of his ear in some language he doesn't understand. Become one with nature, he can hear Uncle say, and bring me back a prized leaf for my tea.

He rolls his eyes at that, even now. It's all he can remember — Uncle encouraging him to accept Toph's offer, one he owes her, apparently. Written in his schedule is A Life-Changing Trip With Toph Where Fire Lord Zuko Doesn't Disappoint This Time, with fine print beneath involving him being buried alive if he happens to so much as scowl while on this excursion. Considering Toph's no longer a short girl who he can easily jump over, he takes her threat seriously. Her Earthbending is an ability he admires, her fingers working as steady and as confidently as she creates her caves and breathes life into the flowers around her with a hard stomp of her foot.

Zuko remains close to Toph, shadowing her, almost on her heels as she walks within the woods. His boots snap twigs with a heavy footfall, his exhales turning into billows of smoke as the sun begins to set in the sky. The canopy isn't thick, but Zuko still finds the rays of the sun have difficulty breaking through its barrier. He doesn't like it, being so far away from any source of light. Toph's own footfalls are confident and steady, but his own faith within her is beginning to wane.

"Do you even know where you're going?" His tone of voice suggests otherwise. He points toward a thin, wiry tree, the branches twisted rather ugly within one another. It's as though it wants to hug itself, turning in on its own trunk to avoid touching the leaves of its brothers and sisters. "That's the third time we've passed that tree!"