And if nothing else, they know roughly how far humans can travel without needing to get off their mount.

So that defines a search radius.

And a good lookout on the highest tower could track them fairly far.

Then they need to get someone up there.

Iroh can go, if Zuko trusts these old eyes.

Yeah. That'll work.

She'll keep a good eye on their target, then.

"...Thank you, Aunt."

"It's my pleasure, niece."

Tiny smile.

Bigger return smile! 

Maybe her luck is finally turning around.

Her Aunt will help her, either way. 

Mm.

And she heads off. 

Zuko will go get the maps.

Her second in command has already pulled the relevant ones together for her, and is reviewing nearby islands with a navigator. 

Still, she wants to see for herself.

"Yes, ma'am." She steps away so Zuko can take her place.

Zuko nods in acknowledgement.

They don't actually have the South Pole that well mapped - for one thing, a lot of islands are actually floating glaciers and tend to move around - but they've got the nonfrozen parts nearby, and if they assume the Avatar isn't going to be taking breaks on an ice field there's only so many landmasses in range, though exact range depends on how fast the mount can fly and the prevailing winds. 

Which are things they'll hopefully learn over the course of the chase.

Good.

Then for now, they should focus on keeping up.

Her lieutenant has gone to ensure exactly that. (She runs an exceptionally tight ship; impressive, given Zuko's crew are mostly sailors on punishment duty, or ones who fell out of favor with the Fire Lord or his admirals for other reasons.)

Zuko will admit to herself that she would be in a much worse position if not for the lieutenant. There should be more officers like her, she thinks. The Fire Nation would be better for it. Zuko is an exile, and she still does her job.

It's not a relationship that admits of closeness. Which is fine.

Part of the problem is maybe that doing her job is how she ended up here.