[ at the mention of katsa, zuko smiles — just a small smile, enough for hiro to notice he's no longer scowling or looking almost blank in his own expressions. who knew his face was capable of such movement? ]

If you had a waterbender like Katara, moving to bodies of water would help her take down the monsters. [ but katara isn't here, and zuko chooses not to dwell on it. if toph was here, she'd be able to metalbend. unconsciously, he lifts his hand to touch his upper arm, right where her metal bracelet is. if only, if only, if only — it's how he thinks now, always considering himself to be a part of that team and no longer alone. ]

[ there's whistling in the background and then another crash. zuko doesn't even acknowledge it. ]

I might know someone who can do better sky duty than me. [ his dumb as hell dragon who just licks him all the time, but he doesn't say so, not on this locket. his brows furrow as he looks down, hair sweeping across his temple, as he tries to think — he doesn't ask himself what ozai would do, but what he'd do, as fire lord. ] But how fast do these monsters even move? There's no point potentially sacrificing shardbearers so others can escape if we can't outrun them! Those people should be the teleporters or fast runners. Anyone who's slow is a liability.