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Chapter Text

Katara cursed her luck. She’d gotten separated from her friends while they’d been trying to escape the crazy blue-fire girl and her friends. Zuko was one thing; his sister was another. Katara probably should feel a tad guilty she could have a break from Toph; but dealing with exhaustion, and the younger girl’s unwillingness to lift a finger to help grated on her. Katara had tried to be nice and include Toph, but she’d been unwilling to accept it. She’d thrown Katara’s offer back in her face.

Sokka should be okay…he’d watched her cook, sew and do all those things…but did he actually know how…? Katara shook her head. He’d be fine, and he’d take care of the others. Aang would be too. Toph was independent enough that she’d be fine, too.

Katara knew she’d gotten lucky; she managed to hide from the girl who could incapacitate with a touch. It was way too close of a call. Katara’s arms prickled even at the mere thought.

The idea of not being able to access her Bending – the sense of having water right there and not being able to use it – it felt like one of her nightmares where she was being attacked while trapped and she couldn’t Bend – except this time it had all been too real.

 The others had managed to escape, thankfully.

She hoped.

She hadn’t heard anything about the Avatar being captured by the Fire Nation. Because they’d have to gloat and show everyone that they were even more on the losing side.

No news was good news, right?

She stopped at some derelict town and asked if anyone heard anything. But the sad fact was, it was news to the people that the Avatar was back. And now they were hopeful, and gave her what little they could to help. It made Katara feel guilty that if Aang had been captured, she brought these people hope only to have it brutally ripped away again.

She continued on, intending to reach Ba Sing Se. It was the only thing she could think of.

All Katara had on her person was a few coins and her waterskin, and the meager food the villagers had given her.

It was hot. Katara’s legs ached. Riding on Appa had spoiled her.

She hoped she would reach Ba Sing Se soon. It was the only place she could think of where all of them could meet up again without trying to find some way to send a message. It made sense, because from wherever she was, it was closer than anything else.

She could try to meet up with her Dad’s fleet, but then – how long ago was that message to Bato sent? How long would it take her to reach them? They could be long gone by now, anyway.

But here she was, on foot, with no idea how long it would take her to reach Ba Sing Se. She tried not to think about how exhausted she was and how sore her feet were. She just had to keep going and hope that she would see the others soon.

===

Katara came upon a small town, where the people kept their heads down and didn’t acknowledge her beyond a single, distrustful glance.

She was sore and exhausted. Maybe she could find a place to rest for a few minutes.

Katara was looking around for someplace she could find something to drink and maybe even eat. A voice got her attention.

 “Well, well, look what we have here, boys.” An Earth Kingdom soldier grabbed her arm.

Katara shifted uncomfortably, trying to pull away. She tried acting naturally – like, she wasn’t worried. She noticed that people were decidedly looking away; leaving her subject to these jerks. People were leaving – leaving her alone.

Five men – all of them were looking at her. She tried to ignore how they looked at her. They were Earth Kingdom; they were supposed to be on the same side; they were supposed to not –

Katara managed to pull away, and the man released her. She rubbed her arm. “I’m with the Avatar. I’m supposed to meet him in Ba Sing Se to meet with the Earth King.” Katara rambled. “He’s expecting me.”

Make it obvious that someone was waiting – that that someone was powerful, influential and important. That they seemed like people who’d come looking. Hopefully, they’ll leave her alone.

 “Oh, sure, sure,” the man replied, his tone was demeaning. Like he was entertaining a child’s whimsical fantasies. “Maybe we could help each other out?” the man brushed her shoulder, indicating his meaning.

Katara looked at him with disgust, but quickly tried to mask it. That was when she took a closer look, and a sense of dread sunk into Katara’s stomach. Their clothing was mismatched; with only bits and pieces of Earth Kingdom armor. It was all dented and dirty; and ill-fitting. And not all of them had armor.

These men weren’t soldiers. Either that, or they had pilfered what they had. Or maybe they were deserters.

Another reached for her. “Be a good girl, and come with us, then.”

Katara snarled and water-whipped the man. He was stunned – and that was when the others moved; Katara was certain she could fight them off – she knew she could – but she wasn’t at her best.

One man shoved her to the ground hard, and Katara spat and cursed – she would put up a fight and make them work for everything they could take her for – and then – there was a scream and blood. There was more yelling, but Katara couldn’t tell from who or where it was coming from. The man standing over her was violently shoved off. Another body fell.

Katara was on her feet.

Someone wearing a conical hat was attacking the men with dual swords.

One of the men tried to attack her rescuer from behind with earthbending, but Katara formed an ice dagger and shot it into a certain point into his leg just as he stomped the ground. His leg couldn’t support him, and wasn’t properly braced for the force of impact Earthbenders normally used.

Katara mentally thanked Yugoda for teaching her about such a trick. That just because the women weren’t allowed to learn how to fight didn’t mean they couldn’t come up with their own techniques to defend themselves.

The man yelled out in pain, and his scream was cut off when the stranger rammed his throat with the butt of his sword.

====

The men, limping, wounded, and in pain, all backed off, and Katara nearly collapsed. Her heart pounded in her ears.

Her rescuer was speaking to the men, but she couldn’t hear him. The men quickly dropped some of their things.

Money, a few small packages, even a shirt…

Katara stood up, taking in a breath, trying to calm herself.

The men gathered their wounded companions and quickly left, glaring hatefully as they retreated.

If the townsfolk were avoiding her before, they most definitely weren’t going to help her now. It was frustrating enough to make her want to shout and cry because she was exhausted and alone; far away from everything and everyone.

She at least, turned to the stranger to say her thanks, when --

 “You?!”

Both of them yelled at the same time.

What was he doing here?!

“Zu--!”

His hand covered her mouth and she glared as she shoved his hand away. Instead, he grabbed her upper arm near her shoulder. He was painfully awkward as he smiled tightly through gritted teeth and leaned towards her. “Call me ‘Li’. I’d really prefer not to be found out.”

He let go of her with a rather snarky, “You’re welcome by the way” and started to walk away. The jerk!

Zuko gathered what the men had dropped.

“What’re you doing here?” Katara asked through a hiss, leaning close to make sure no-one overheard since Zuko wanted to be so secretive. “If this is some kind of elaborate ploy—“

Zuko cut her off with a scoff. “Yes. I totally planned on running into you in some backwater Earth Kingdom town. Everything’s going according to plan.”

He rolled his eyes as heavy sarcasm seeped from his words. There seemed to be more to his words than what he was saying. He looked at her and muttered, “Peasant.”

“You know what I mean!” Katara shot back, but Zuko didn’t bother responding.

Katara frowned since Zuko didn’t seem interested in talking to her. Or even acknowledging her beyond his initial reaction to finding her here. Zuko didn’t seem the slightest bit interested in anything.

Katara silently watched as Zuko packed up his spoils in the pack on an ostrich-horse…and he just…started to leave. No attacking. No demanding to know where Aang was.

She followed after him, trying to think of what he could be up to. She didn’t even know how to properly react to this. Was he a threat? Was he waiting for her to drop her guard, and then spring an attack?

He led his ostrich-horse along several feet before he bristled and turned towards her. “Why are you following me? What do you want?”

“That’s what I should be asking you,” Katara replied, straightening and putting her hands on her hips. She couldn’t figure out if she should be suspicious or not. Zuko wasn’t wearing his usual armor, and instead wore some nondescript Earth Kingdom brown clothing. Plus, the old man that was often with him wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Just leave me alone.” Zuko muttered, and he promptly turned away from her and walked towards a small shop.

The shopkeeper eyed them nervously, watching Zuko’s every movement as he bought a few small packages of food.

“Where are you going?” Katara asked.

“Anywhere but here.” Zuko replied.

“Not back to…” Katara didn’t say Fire Nation, so she finished a bit awkwardly with, “…home?”

Zuko flinched and glared at her as if Katara had insulted him in a very personal way.

“Just leave me alone already…” he hesitated and mumbled something and looked at her with a frown.

It took a moment for Katara to realize.

“You don’t know my name…” she was somehow very annoyed and angry. From how Zuko’s expression winced, she knew she was right. “You seriously don’t know my name?”

“…Sokka?”

She didn’t bother answering, and instead scowled right back, silently demanding, try again, pal.

“…Tokara?”

“It’s Katara!” she didn’t yell, but her voice was somewhat raised.

“Okay, Katara. I’m leaving.”

He then mounted the ostrich-horse he initially came in on and Katara was irked. Though, admittedly she knew she didn’t exactly have the right to be irked about the things she was actually irked about.

“You’re just going to leave me here?”

Meaning, he wasn’t doing anything to try and manipulate the situation into his favor like he had with her necklace and the pirates. Her neck still felt the lack of her mother’s necklace. She wondered if he’d thrown it away somewhere and it was gone for good.

Zuko sent her a look as if realizing something for the first time. “…You’re not with the Avatar?”

“We got separated.” Katara bit out and crossed her arms.

“Oh. Um. That’s rough?”

Katara scoffed at his awkwardness, and he scowled back.

An idea struck her. She wasn’t sure if this was a good idea or not, but this was a plan born of desperation. She could already hear Sokka questioning her sanity on this.

“Wait.”

He stopped and looked at her.

Katara expected…something else. Yelling, attacking, demanding…but not…this. Whatever ‘this’ was.

“What are you doing here, anyway? And not on your ship? I thought…” she’d thought Zuko had died in the North, or something.

Zuko’s expression closed off. He stiffly replied, “It doesn’t matter.”

“Look,” Katara could be diplomatic when she wanted to be. “We don’t have to like each other. But I need to…not be here, anymore.” She wasn’t willing to share any plans with him.

“What?” Zuko snapped. “What do you want?”

Katara didn’t back down.

She asked instead, “Where’s your uncle?”

Zuko’s expression went odd, and he glared at her for a few seconds before he turned away sharply. He wouldn’t look at her.

“…He’s gone.” Zuko said quietly. “We were split up.”

Was that worry? Or something else?

“I got split up from my friends, too, like I said. How about a truce?”

Zuko arched his eyebrow, and flatly responded, “A truce. Why?”

“Well, I want to meet up with my friends, and you obviously don’t want people knowing who you are, and you don’t seem to be going anywhere in particular.”

Katara smirked. “I could very suddenly be a damsel in distress,” she leaned towards him and very pointedly whispered, “Zuko.”

Zuko glanced around. There were a few soldiers sitting outside of some rundown restaurant. They probably had no interest in involving themselves too much with common scuffles in the town; seeing as they didn’t step in when she was accosted and Zuko wounded a few of them.

Heaving a very dramatic-sounding sigh, Zuko bit out, “Fine. Climb on.”

The ostrich-horse squawked as Katara mounted it.

She didn’t exactly like having to basically push herself up against her…sort-of enemy, but how else was she going to stay on?

They were off once she had adjusted herself as comfortably as she could get.

As they rode away, it began to dawn on Katara what a crazy, not-very-well thought out plan this was. Zuko could just up and leave her in the middle of the desert if he wanted to. She could technically do the same…but then she’d have to live with the guilt of abandoning someone who not only helped her – but who she also cajoled into helping her.

She was essentially acting on good faith that Zuko wouldn’t suddenly get the idea of abandoning her somewhere.

---

Riding an ostrich-horse was different from riding Appa. There was a lot more jostling, and Katara’s muscles started feeling sore. Muscles she didn’t even know she had were feeling sore. Everything around them was monotonous; with the occasional rock or dried up tree.

The only sounds were the ostrich-horse’s grunts and heavy footsteps.

“So…” Katara said, attempting to make conversation. “Does she have a name?”

“What?” Zuko asked, distractedly.

“Does she have a name? The ostrich-horse.”

“Chi-Chi.” Zuko replied.

“…I ran into your sister.” Katara said after a moment of personally debating whether or not she should say something. Zuko stiffened up so tightly, that Katara thought that he had pulled Chi-Chi to a stop. Instead, they kept going. “That was how I got split up from my friends.”

“Oh.”

He sounded hollow.

“How’d you get split up from your uncle?”

“Do we have to talk about this?” Zuko’s voice was raised, but he wasn’t yelling. “Can’t you be quiet?”

“I’m just making conversation!”

“What makes you think I even want to talk to you?”

“Fine!” Katara snapped. “I’ll just sit here and be quiet!”

“That’s perfect.”

“Ass.” Katara hissed.

---

They rode along for what like hours before Zuko hunched into himself before straightening.

“Sorry,” he muttered quietly. “I shouldn’t have…said that.”

“Oh. Okay…” Katara replied, surprised that Zuko would apologize without prompting. “Thank you.”

“We should stop and rest for a bit.” Zuko indicated a patch of dried grass. “Chi-Chi needs to eat, too.”

Zuko retrieved a bun from the satchel for each of them. They sat on the hard ground drank their water sparingly.

Zuko ended up removing his hat to reveal that his shaved-ponytail look was gone. Instead, it was replaced with short hair that had been filling in for a while now.

“Why are you here?” Katara started, but quickly added, “You don’t have to say…”

“Uncle and I were…” Zuko replied quietly. “We got split up because of Azula too.”

He wasn’t looking at her, and his expression looked exceptionally lost. It made him look young. It struck Katara that Zuko was a teenager, like her. He was probably around Sokka’s age.

There were so many questions Katara wanted to ask, but Zuko shut her out yet again. Katara sighed. It wasn’t like she was trying to make friends with him, so she shouldn’t be bothered.

“What’s your plan, anyway?” Zuko asked, like a person who very much wanted to be left alone.

“Well…” Katara wasn’t sure how much she should share. She came to the realization she hadn’t exactly thought that far ahead in her on-the-spot planning. She only had a rough idea of getting from one point to the other, but hadn’t thought about everything in between.

 Sokka was definitely the plan guy. “I need to get to Ba Sing Se. It’s the only place I can think of where I can meet up with Aang and the others.”

“Ba Sing Se’s this way…” Katara muttered thoughtfully, looking at the map Zuko had pulled out of his pack. “It’ll take us a week…hm…a week and a half?”

It was a bit difficult to tell, since flying all the time had warped her perception a bit.

“Two-and-half-weeks, three days. Give or take.” Zuko said quietly. “But we won’t be able to get into the city without passports. Which costs money – but there’s probably only enough for one of us. For you.”

“Just me?” Katara questioned, and it then occurred to her that Zuko really didn’t seem to have any intention of sticking with her. Not that it mattered. He was…an enemy? Maybe? But Katara was thrown that Zuko didn’t seem interested in what she was doing. He’d been so invested in capturing Aang, Katara seriously thought that Zuko would find any excuse to involve himself in her plans.

 “Well…” he blinked, looking at her. He seemed genuinely surprised enough about her question that Katara believed he hadn’t been intending to stick with her.

“Unless we can manage to find someone who can get us both one.” Zuko said, still not really looking at her. He shrugged. “But…I’m not sure. I couldn’t find some old guy playing pai-sho in the last town, so…”

“What does playing pai-sho have to do with getting passports?”

“Uncle told me…he said…” Zuko shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, anyway.”

Katara was curious about what had happened, because something so obviously did. All Zuko had really said was that he’d gotten split up from his uncle thanks to Azula. But there was so much there that he wasn’t saying.

“We should go.” Zuko finally said.

“Okay.”

There was silence as they packed everything up. There wasn’t so much that it took them a long time.

Katara held onto Zuko as they went on.

She had no idea what to think.

Chapter Text

Zuko scowled and fought back a sigh as the Water Tribe girl kept insisting on trying to make conversation. Why couldn’t she save her breath and just let them travel in peace? Even with his vague, and very stilted responses, she just kept going.

What was she trying to do? It wasn’t like he really knew anything useful. He kept looking for the potential trap in her words, but couldn’t find it.

It wasn’t like they were going to stick together for that long. He just wanted her gone, and he could just…keep going to…wherever it was.

Was it a Water Tribe peasant thing to perpetually annoy people?

He’d already lost everything, and now the Spirit decided that he deserved to suffer further by dropping the Waterbender into his life.

He’d already snapped at her once, but had felt guilty about it afterwards.

Now, when she asked questions, she hedged around the obviously sore subjects – his family – he didn’t want to think about them.

When he refused to answer and complained that he didn’t want to talk – she then began talking about something else. He breathed in and out.

She wasn’t necessarily asking questions anymore. Not about him, anyway. She talked about her people and the stuff they did back in the South Pole.

Someone did something stupid like hugging a moose-wolf while naked and covered in honey.

That was just – wait.

“They did what?!”

“I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.” She laughed.

Zuko glared at her, completely unimpressed.

The conversation soon lulled.

The silence was welcome, but admittedly the Waterbender’s voice at least made the trip less boring.

They had to settle down for the night, and Zuko quickly dug a few small vegetables from his pack – and some meat.

“Anything I can do to help?” the girl asked.

“No.” Zuko replied flatly.

He could do this on his own, just like everything else.

His food tasted awful, Zuko would be the first to admit that.

“It’s…interesting.”

He was exhausted, frustrated, everything was falling apart around him and she was a convenient target to unleash on.

“I know it’s bad, alright!” Zuko snapped. “You can just say it!”

She blinked at him a few times, and frowned. “Alright. Fine. It tastes awful.”

Zuko huffed and laid down. At least he was already done eating. They had no choice but to share the only blanket. Which left very little personal space. Zuko scooted to the edge of it, keeping his back to the Waterbender.

He heard her settle down behind him a few minutes later.

She sighed, and made a humming noise. Then, “You’re not used to doing things yourself, are you?”

Well, it was obvious. Breathe. In. Out.

“…No.”

“I did all the cooking you know.”

Great, she was rubbing it in his face that she could ---

“I could show, you. If you want.”

Wait, what.

“…Why?” Zuko asked instead, instinctively searching for the manipulation and lies that definitely had to be hidden in her words.

She shifted. “Because. Why not? Don’t you want to learn?”

The Waterbender was confusing. He didn’t get what she was trying to do.

Uncle often rambled about accepting help and learning stuff when the opportunities arose or whatever and so on.

He sighed, trying to let go of any stress. Easier said than done.

He wondered if Uncle was…what would Azula – what would Father do? His face stung, just a little.

“Zuko?”

Oh. He hadn’t answered her.

He probably should learn.

“Alright.”

“Great!” she sounded too optimistic. “Goodnight, Zuko.”

“Yeah.”

He knew he should apologize. But...she seemed to be asleep. So he didn’t say anything.

---

When Zuko woke up that morning at sunrise, he stiffened immediately. The Waterbender practically had herself wrapped around him like a koala-dog. And she was drooling on his shoulder.

He carefully pulled away from her, lest he wake her up and she accuse him of doing some untoward to her. She whined, a little and curled up as she shivered.

“H-hey.” Zuko poked her shoulder.

She muttered, “Not now, Momo.”

 It was a little colder than Zuko realized – and – he’d been her heat source.

He quickly prepared breakfast. It was almost edible. Not really.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” the Waterbender asked upon smelling the rather burnt food. “I thought I was going to help.”

“I uh, tried. You called me ‘Momo.’” Zuko quickly replied.

“Oh. Sorry,” she chuckled and grimaced a little as she ate.

---

She seemed to run out of things to talk about today. Other than asking the occasional question of, “how much longer?” and requesting to stop because she had to pee.

The Waterbender made sure to call out nearly every time, as if Zuko needed reminding to “not look at her.”

“I’m not!” Zuko shouted back. “You don’t look!”

It was so dumb and childish, and Zuko started to think she was doing it on purpose just to annoy him.

----

They went on until the sun was low, and Zuko felt the Waterbender slump against him. It would soon be too dark to travel. He shifted enough so that she was forced to wake up.

“We need to stop for the night. Let’s find a someplace.”

The Waterbender spotted an outcropping of rocks and pointed it out.

It was big enough they could rest for the night with plenty of cover.

They set up their small camp, with Zuko mostly taking over the process. Which only really left the Waterbender to stand around and watch. Not that he cared.

“Anything I can do to help?” she asked.

“No.” Zuko replied with a near-snappish tone.

“Hey, I’m trying to be nice, you know.”

She only received an eye roll.

Zuko took some food out of the pack and began trying to cook it. Keyword; tried.

On the bright side, they had no need for spark rocks.

It was a bit of meat and rice.

“Let me,” she took over as if it were a natural thing. She added maybe a bit condescendingly. “We don’t want it to be inedible.”

Zuko nearly protested but was cut off with her saying, “If we continue with your version of cooking, we’ll be eating charcoal-flavored jerky. That would make Sokka wherever he is weep over the waste of meat. And we don’t want the rice to be mush.”

Zuko pouted, but didn’t argue.

The Waterbender was able to mostly save their meal. It was nearly overcooked and bland, and very meager.

They sat in silence. It wasn’t what could be considered companionable. It felt uncomfortable. It probably felt as uncomfortable to her if he was noticing it.

Zuko wasn’t a conversationalist. He never talked to anyone – not even his crew. It had been Uncle who always approached him; trying to encourage and engage him, and Zuko had always thrown it back in Uncle’s face.

Zuko had Uncle and an entire crew, and in all the years he’d known them…he only knew their names. They had families, but Zuko hadn’t bothered to remember all those details. They hadn’t mattered in the day-to-day functions of running a ship.

Uncle remembered. Uncle knew all the details.

How many of them were even still alive?

Was Uncle…?

Zuko would never…he’d never get the chance to learn and actually remember.

He was now alone in the middle of the Earth Kingdom with a Waterbender who kept trying to talk to him.

Zuko just sat quietly and stared at his empty bowl with a scowl and furrowed eyebrow.

“Um…” Zuko started, stopped. He let out a breath. “Thanks.”

That wasn’t exactly what he wanted to say.

“Sure.” She smiled a little. At him.

The silence got better. A little.

---

The weight on his wrist was still there.

He’d gotten so used to it, that Zuko had nearly forgotten about it.

Slowly, Zuko stood up and walked over to her. And just stood there, stiffly, waiting to be acknowledged.  

She looked up at Zuko curiously. “Uh, Zuko?”

“I…” Zuko spoke quietly. He mumbled under his breath.

“Hm? What was that?” she asked.

Rather than repeat himself, Zuko held the necklace out to her. The blue cord was only somewhat stained; and a little more slightly frayed than when he’d found it. It had been through a lot since the Pirates, Jun, and the North…

He didn’t think the wear-and-tear was enough to be concerned about, but he wasn’t an expert. He’d made sure to take care of it because it had been his chance to… plus, she’d said it belonged to her mother.

A flash of blue, and her eyes lit up.

“Mom’s necklace!”

She grabbed it and hugged it to her chest in relief, while Zuko quickly retreated. He flopped down onto the blanket, facing away from her.

Slowly, Katara went to lay down next to him. He felt her there, just inches away. He listened to the sounds of wild, nocturnal creatures and he breathed. Chi-Chi scratched and snorted at the ground as she settled in.

Her voice was quiet. “I thought it was gone forever.”

He didn’t know how to respond to that, so he didn’t say anything.

“Why’d you give it back?”

“There’s no point in me keeping it.” He curled around himself a little more and wouldn’t look at her. He heard the despondency in his own voice and grimaced, knowing she probably heard it too. “You said it was your mother’s, right?”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

+=+=+=+

Things were quiet, again. Katara naturally was a night-cat-owl.

This situation was an odd one. Sokka would be questioning her sanity. Aang would be happy for a new friend. Toph would…Katara sighed. She couldn’t say she really knew what Toph would do or say.

Her thoughts went to Zuko, who certainly didn’t seem to think their – or rather, his situation was ideal. She was trying to figure him out. Trying to figure out what was going on with him.

He wasn’t on his ship. He had different hair now, which Katara would admit made him look better. From what she’d learned about Fire Nationals was that their hair was a pretty big deal. And for Zuko to have his hair short…that had to mean something. Plus, he’d been split up from his uncle thanks to Azula…

So…he was traveling across the Earth Kingdom and calling himself ‘Li’. Guess that was the safest recourse – being the son of the Fire Lord wasn’t something he’d wanted to advertise.

He wasn’t hunting Aang anymore?

He gave her mother’s necklace back after taunting her with it that one time?

He’d made his way into the oasis in the North…

Her mind went to what he’d said back North – you rise with the Moon, I rise with the Sun.

“Hey, Zuko? You awake?”

There was silence, and she thought that maybe he was asleep. But then, “…yeah?”

She brought up what he’d said back then, and said, “It’s surprisingly poetic, coming from someone like you.”

She treaded the waters of teasing him, just a little. Just to see how he’d react.

Zuko suddenly sat up and glared at her – and maybe it was a trick of the firelight and shifting shadows, but Katara would have sworn that he was blushing.

“Why are you bring that up now?”

He scowled at her, but the effect was completely lost with how embarrassed he looked.

“I’m just curious.”

“Can’t you just go to sleep?!” Zuko huffed and practically threw himself back down. From the way he flopped and seemed to bite back a groan, it sounded like it might have hurt a little.

 “Where’d you even hear that? Did you make it up?” She smiled. “C’mon, you can tell me. I won’t judge.” Katara snickered as she added, “Too much.”

Zuko groaned. He turned to look at her. “I got it from a play, alright? Happy now?”

“Yes.” A beat. “What was the play?”

“Argh! If you don’t be quiet I’m going to make you sleep with Chi-Chi.” Zuko threatened. He then turned very purposefully so his back was to her.

She smiled. “Goodnight, Zuko.”

He huffed. Then, “’Night, Katara.”

She blinked, staring at the back of his head. A small, personal victory.

It wasn’t very long until Zuko’s breathing evened out. Katara woke up when she heard Zuko mumbling in his sleep, again.

Embarrassingly, Katara had apparently drifted in her sleep and was clinging to Zuko.

She quickly and gently pulled back from him, just in case he woke up and caught her. Katara almost regretted it when the chill hit her. She scooted so that she was pressed up against him, but not clinging.

Zuko sounded distressed, like he was having a nightmare. His face was contorted into a grimace as he mumbled. She wondered what he dreamed about to make him so worried.

Carefully, like she had the night previously, Katara gently ran a hand through his hair.

She kept her voice a quiet whisper. “Shh, you’re alright.”

That settled him, and he finally relaxed.

Katara stayed awake for a bit longer, listening to everything else. It sounded peaceful. Not long after, Katara fell asleep again.

---

Zuko woke her up.

Katara yawned and stretched. She frowned when Zuko kept glancing at her with a frown on his face. What was his problem?

He’d already taken some food out to be prepared.

Katara showed him how to cook vegetables – watch the color carefully – you don’t want them overcooked.

Zuko sat and listened.

Their food was actually decent this time.

Katara was thankful she wasn’t the one doing all the work.

Chapter Text

Over the next few days, a sort of peace came between them; the silence was somewhat comfortable and Katara didn’t feel the need to fill it.

But there was something she started to notice about Zuko, and she wasn’t exactly sure what it was. She wasn’t sure if she should be concerned or not. He seemed more irritable at times…

When they stopped to rest, Zuko would hand her food and then go to sleep. He was sleeping a lot more lately, but insisted he was fine.

“Do you want me to at least check…?” Katara asked, wondering if he was sick.

“Don’t touch me.” It sounded almost like a threat, but not quite.

“Look. I’m just—“ Katara tried again.

“Can’t you leave it alone already?” Zuko said quietly, like a request and not a demand.

Annoyed, Katara grit her teeth, taking in a breath.

“Fine.”

Zuko said nothing.

For some reason she couldn’t name, Katara wasn’t satisfied with having the last word.

----

In the mornings, their simple breakfast would already be prepared – but then Zuko was saying he’d already eaten… Which was a bit odd because they’d been eating together in the mornings before…?

At mealtimes he’d take a few bites and just make some ridiculous excuse about not being hungry and shove his food at her and then lay down.

He always insisted he was fine, and she had seen him eat...so…

“You’re acting weird.” Katara called him out.

After a few moments, Zuko’s clever comeback was, “…You’re always weird.”

Katara rolled her eyes. “Is something going on?”

“No.” Zuko replied flatly.

“Really? Because it seems—“

“Nothing’s going on Katara!” Zuko snapped at her.

Katara’s jaw dropped in shock for a few seconds, because she’d really thought they had come way past his snapping at her. It was almost like when they first started traveling together.

Katara’s jaw now tightened. She took a deep breath in.

“You do not get to talk to me like that.” Katara said stiffly. “I’m just trying to make sure everything’s okay.”

Zuko’s own jaw tightened, and he turned away. “Just leave me alone.”

Were they seriously back to this?!

“Fine, you ass!” Katara snapped. “I’ll give you exactly what you want!”

“Good!”

“Fine!”

Katara couldn’t exactly go storming off into the desert, and she couldn’t in good conscience leave Zuko by himself out here. She really wished they were near a stream just so she could dunk several gallons of water on him. She’d then dry him off and dunk water on him again, and leave him to dry off on his own.

She was mad at Zuko, and he definitely was in a mood.

She could talk to him just to annoy him; but she didn’t want to talk to him. She could completely ignore him.

But then…that was exactly what he wanted.

Argh! She couldn’t win!

Maybe she could pull a page out of Sokka’s book and find other ways to be annoying without directly interacting with Zuko.

Zuko didn’t say anything as they packed up. The only way Katara even acknowledged his presence was by holding onto him as they rode on Chi-Chi. But then she absolutely wished she didn’t have to.

Zuko was completely stiff, and looked straight ahead; like he was the one determined to ignore her.

That pissed her off because she was the one who was supposed to be ignoring him!

He was such an ass.

---

Chi-Chi trotted along, and Katara watched the scenery go by. For some reason, Zuko slowly started leaning to the side.

“Zuko?” Katara questioned, wondering what he was doing. He didn’t answer. “Zuko!”

He started to fall, and Katara held onto him. Katara couldn’t do much as they both fell to the hard ground. She let out a muffled curse as her shoulder took most of the impact.

Chi-Chi thankfully didn’t go running off, and instead cocked her head at them questioningly and squawked.

A quick scan of herself, and her shoulder was fine – it would probably be stiff, though.

“Zuko?” Katara tried, but there was no response beyond a quiet groan.

Zuko had passed out? Which was okay, in a sense – he’d fainted. But why…?

Scanning Zuko with a coating of water over her hand, Katara frowned… he seemed skinny – skinnier than he should be.

Biting back her frustration, Katara wondered what to do. There was no way she could pick Zuko up by herself.

She didn’t really want to be out her in the open – but there literally wasn’t anything around. There weren’t even rocks poking up out of the ground. At least, if someone tried to attack them, she’d be able to see them coming.

They’d have to rest here.

All she could do was make Zuko comfortable.

So Katara went to retrieve the blanket, and maybe make a simple stew. The town she’d stopped in when she first got separated from her friends had given her some spark rocks so could at least make something.

She first got Zuko onto the blanket, and then went into the food pouches and…she stopped, upon realizing how sparse they truly were. There was only enough here for a few simple meals.

If one person ate sparingly enough and got clever how they prepared their meals; there was enough for a week. Almost a week, maybe.

It occurred to her that Zuko had been the one getting the food out the entire time, so she’d never known exactly how little they had left.

At first, Katara was angry. Zuko had been snapping at her – but then anger turned to confusion. He’d started to look exhausted even though he’d been sleeping…and he was getting to be too thin.

She started to feel guilty, because – Zuko hadn’t been intending to travel with a companion, so he’d been starving himself so she could eat.

He didn’t tell her. Why didn’t he tell her?

If he’d just told her, she could have planned better, and made sure their food was being stretched out.

Idiot. Dumbass.

Prince Zuko had no idea how to properly ration food. Katara had been under the impression they had more than they actually had.

And then he was skipping meals, taking a few bites at lunch and shoving his portions at her and then sleeping…

He should have told her. But because of what, some sort of pride, he felt he had to – slowly starve himself?

She prepared a simple pot of food.

Zuko woke up roughly an hour later, asking, “W-what happened?”

“You fainted!” Katara said, standing with her hands on her hips.

“I’m fine –“ Zuko started to say.

“You are not fine, you fainted!”

“It’s not that big a deal, let’s just go.” Zuko started trying to stand but stopped.

“No! You need to rest,” Katara practically pushed him down. She pushed him too easily – she knew he should have been stronger than this.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, look at him. “About the food?”

He was looking at her wide-eyed.

“You…” Katara began, but she didn’t know how – didn’t like this – hated that Zuko was –

“You were seriously starving yourself?!” Katara demanded, angrily.

“I’m not! I wasn’t!” Zuko denied, exactly like how someone who was caught in the act would say. He was such a terrible liar.

She didn’t understand. She was pissed off at him for doing this. Pissed off at herself for not noticing sooner. “You can’t do stuff like that! Why would you do something like that?!”

Zuko wouldn’t look at her. He bit out his response, “It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does!” Katara didn’t understand, at all. Zuko wasn’t supposed to shove his own well-being aside for her sake. He wasn’t supposed to confuse her so much.

“What were you even thinking?!”

Zuko cowered a little, like anyone would do when they’ve got an angry girl yelling at them.

“You needed it more?” Zuko said, as if he couldn’t think of a proper excuse.

She wanted to yell at Zuko some more, but he needed to eat something first.

Katara shoved a small bowl of watered-down soup at him. “Eat it, you stupid ass. You need to at least have something in your stomach.”

Zuko looked as if he wanted to argue, but Katara glared. He ate slowly.

“I don’t understand.” Katara said quietly, from where she sat. She hugged her knees at looked at him. “I don’t understand you.”

It made her feel guilty that he’d been doing this, and she hadn’t noticed. She was supposed to notice these things. She’d paid attention to Sokka and Aang, and later Toph.

Zuko had been unwilling to tell her how low their food actually was, and then what? She felt guilty, because – they were two people eating for one, and he’d been making sure that she was getting most of it. Thinking that she had been the one to force him into this position – even unwittingly – it went against everything she’d assumed about him.

He was the stupid, prickly jerk-ass who invaded her village and manhandled Gran-Gran – but still left… He hunted Aang, set Suki’s village on fire…used her mother’s necklace to hunt Aang down…

He was the enemy. But he did a very poor job of it.

He’d helped her; returned her mother’s necklace…and…made sure she got food. She couldn’t figure Zuko out and it annoyed her.

Zuko wouldn’t look at her. He was glaring off to the side, as if he were actually pouting about getting caught.

“It was something I could actually…” Zuko trailed off, not saying anything else. He stubbornly looked anywhere else but at her.

“Please, don’t do this again. Ever.” Katara asked, reaching for him and gripping his arm. “Please. Tell me if we actually need food and whatever other supplies.”

“Okay. We need to buy more food.” Zuko replied.

“If you ever pull this stunt again, I will – I’ll – dunk water on you and make all your belongings wet.”

Zuko arched his eyebrow. “…I could just…steam-dry myself off, though. Remember?”

Katara smacked his arm. “You ass.”

He sent a scowl her way, but he didn’t seem to mean it.

She hoped they could come across a town where they could actually buy something. They needed it.

“Don’t starve yourself for my sake. You need to talk to me, please.”

Zuko was glancing at her, as if searching for something.

“Promise that you’ll talk to me.” Katara said.

Zuko ducked his head and sighed. “…Alright. I promise.”

They rested a while longer.

----

Thank Yue and La that they came across a town the next day, run-down as it was. But there were people, and they could actually get supplies.

But there was an incident where an Earth Kingdom soldier jerk got hit with an egg thrown by a little boy. The man accused them of throwing the egg, though, it was blatantly obvious it hadn’t come from them.

“Must have been a flying chicken.” Zuko replied dryly.

The man scoffed, and smirked haughtily and tried to take what little supplies they literally had just bought. “Thank you for your contribution to the Earth Kingdom army.”

Except, this soldier found himself facing up against an exhausted Waterbender who hated the fact that Zuko had starved himself so she could eat. Katara had much better things to do than let themselves be taken advantage of.

“Don’t even.” Katara hissed like a viper-rat, icicle talons ready to claw the man’s eyes out.

She caught Zuko staring at her, and his expression looked more amused than anything else.

The man’s eyes widened very briefly, before he wisely backed off. He had a mocking tone in his voice. “Very well, then.”

His uneasiness was obvious to see though, as he probably wasn’t used to people standing up to him. He probably saw that there would be too much trouble in trying to steal from them.

Gow – and his men unfortunately, they learned from the shopkeeper, were more like goons. They did nothing to help, and weren’t any better than the Fire Nation. Katara hated it, and silently wished they could do more.

She couldn’t tell what Zuko was thinking. She wondered if he cared.

The little boy who had thrown the egg revealed himself, and said that his name was Lee.

“Aw. Big Li and Little Lee.” Katara cooed, while Zuko rolled his eyes.

“You guys were so cool, standing up to Gow!” Lee excitedly rambled.

Little Lee took them back to his house and excitedly introduced them to his parents, Gansu and Sela. Lee retold events in a very dramatic and over-embellished fashion. According to Lee, they both had beat Gao up and he ran away crying with his tail between his legs.

“That’s not exactly what happened…” Zuko muttered to Lee’s parents.

But they both smiled and nodded.

Gansu commented, giving his fists a few swings, “It’s about time someone put Gao and his men in their place.”

“So, what brings you two all the way out here?” Sela asked with a smile.

It then occurred to Katara that they hadn’t even bothered to figure out how they were going to introduce themselves to people – they couldn’t pass for being brother and sister. Two people like them traveling together – others would make certain assumptions about them.

Zuko obviously didn’t want to reveal his true identity, and it was better if he didn’t.

Katara was quick to respond with the first plausible thing that came to her mind as she hugged Zuko’s arm, “Li’s my betrothed!”

Katara grimaced, hoping it passed for a smile. Much better excuses now chose to flood into her mind; after claiming Zuko was her betrothed.

Zuko coughed and choked and blushed, as if he’d lost all his words. Thankfully, Gansu and Sela took Zuko’s surprised outburst as being anything else than what it actually was.

Sela chuckled and “awe’d”.

“We’re traveling to make a new life in Ba Sing Se.” Katara joyfully explained, adding onto the awkward lie, while patting Zuko’s back.

“Ah, young love.” Gansu nodded. “I remember when I was courting my Sela.”

“You were the handsomest boy in the village.” Sela replied with a giggle. “I thought I was the luckiest girl.”

Lee made faces as his parents both looked lovingly into each other’s eyes.

In exchange for room and board, Zuko and Katara were put to work. Zuko was clearly awkward and not used to working, but he was somewhat managing it.

Though, Gansu kept making comments about the fake couple, and asking stuff like, “How are you going to care for that pretty wife of yours if you can’t (insert some menial task here)?”

Katara almost felt bad for him. She probably shouldn’t have been so amused at seeing Zuko so far outside of his element.

On top of that, Lee was following Zuko around, chattering away. He was asking question after question, and kept mentioning an older brother who was off fighting in the war. He asked Zuko about his scar, and Zuko ended up hitting his thumb.

Zuko muffled several curses.

Gansu raised a brow.

Lee looked disappointed that he hadn’t caught any of Zuko’s extensive vocabulary.

Katara had never really thought about how Zuko had gotten the scar. It had always just been a part of his face. If she asked, would he tell her?

Sela commented, “Your Li seems…interesting.”

“Haha, yeah…he is.” Katara awkwardly trailed off, not sure how to continue.

“Well, there’s work to be done.” Sela said clapping her hands. “Let’s go.”

---

Sela kept wanting to talk to her about aspects of her life, and Katara was saved when Zuko came in with Gansu and Lee, and she ran up and hugged him. “Li!”

“Uh…Katara?”

“Come on, I need to tell you something.” Katara acted far more chipper than she usually did. “Outside.”

“But…” Zuko started, looking confused.

“Now, dear.” Katara insisted through a forced smile.

Outside, she quickly told him as she whispered, “If anyone asks, we met in the port town Zhuangzi when we were traveling for work. You asked me out first, but I initially said ‘no’ –“

Zuko frowned. “Why would you say no?”

Katara couldn’t read Zuko’s expression but she waved it off.

“Does it really matter? Just make something up if you want, Zuko.” Katara then continued, “Anyway, after we worked together for a bit longer and got to know each other I began to see you for you and so then I agreed to go on a date with you. And then after five months of dating, you proposed. And after discussing it, that’s how we come to be traveling to make a new life for ourselves in Ba Sing Se.”

Zuko looked as if he wanted to ask more questions, but stayed silent.

Both Gansu and Sela were giving them “knowing” looks as they walked back into the house. Zuko looked annoyed and very much ready to snap and argue if anyone said anything. Katara felt her embarrassment hot on her face. She was slightly annoyed at Zuko. Was the idea of being married to her that bad?

They settled down to eat.

Sela was so kind and friendly, but Yue and La, why did she want to keep asking questions?! Katara felt a tad guilty because well, she was probably the first new person a busy woman like Sela had been able to talk to in a while.

She probably also wanted to dispense whatever marital wisdom she thought the young couple might need.

“So, Katara didn’t get a chance to answer,” Sela was saying (how did she remember where they left off in their earlier conversation?!) “What were you two doing for work when you met?”

Katara was rapidly trying to think of a story of how she and Zuko met that didn’t involve him crashing into her village and threatening people.

“Circus. We Juggled.” Zuko quickly said.

“Fishermen.” Katara answered at the same time.

The couple sent them both odd looks.

“Wow! That’s so cool!” Lee was wide-eyed.

Zuko winced, and Katara arched her brow at him. Seriously, juggling?! Where did that come from?

Now, both he and Katara were trying to muddle their way through the story.

While Zuko nodded also answering at nearly the same time, “The circus needed the fish...to eat and feed…the animals while we…uh, travelled?”

“Yep! Traveling, juggling fishermen…heh.” Katara quickly added, mentally smacking herself for forgetting the ‘traveling for work’ detail she had made up. “Gotta work hard to earn that money.”

“That’s so interesting,” Gansu looked genuinely interested. “I bet you’ve seen many interesting places!”

That was something both she and Zuko could genuinely answer. Though, Zuko was slightly more stilted in his responses, since he had to tell it from a traveler’s perspective and not that of a soldier’s.

Zuko ended up saying something about how he was from one of the colonies, and he had to leave, but didn’t offer up any more details. Which was a decent enough excuse. There was no way for Zuko to hide his pale skin and gold eyes.

Both Gansu and Sela looked at Zuko; or more specifically, his scar. They looked at Zuko with something akin to pity, and he seemed to know it. He busied himself with picking at his food.

It was probably better to let people make their own assumptions and connect whatever dots they thought might be there.

The food was filling and it was the tastiest thing Katara had eaten since what felt like forever. She made sure Zuko ate extra, and ignored how the married couple looked at them.

“You’ve got a good woman on your hands, Li.” Gansu said quietly. “You take care of her, ya’hear?”

“I think you’re both very lucky to have each other.” Sela added, with a gentle, motherly smile. It somewhat made Katara wonder if that’s how her own mother would have looked at her upon meeting her betrothed.

Katara blushed, while Zuko mutely nodded and leaned over his food.

Lee made gagging noises.

“I’m never gonna get married!” Lee declared, resolutely. “I don’t wanna get all sappy.”

His parents laughed.

“You very well might change your mind one day, young man.” Sela said, running a hand through his messy hair.

The conversation thankfully moved from them to other topics – their other son Sensu, and how he was fighting the Fire Nation…

Zuko remained very quiet and didn’t look up.

Katara asked a few questions, detailing about their son.

His regiment actually wasn’t that far away…only a day or so’s travel from what Gansu and Sela had heard – from Gao, and other soldiers passing through. The idea of the Fire Nation army being so close…

“The Fire Nation isn’t going to come here, right?” Lee asked, in all of his childish fear, innocence, and curiosity.

“Absolutely not,” Gansu assured, like any parent would even if they had the same exact fear.

“Your big, strong brother’s fighting to keep them away, so you don’t have anything to worry about.” Sela said, patting Lee’s arm.

Chapter Text

They bade their host goodnight and settled in. They laid on their shared blanket, listening the farm animals making various snorts and huffs.

“They’re really nice, you know.” Katara said quietly. “Gansu, Sela, and Lee.”

“I guess.”

Zuko had watched how Gansu interacted with Sela and Lee. He always hugged Sela, and looked at her with such gentleness. He always reached out to Lee, ruffling his hair. When they spoke of Sansu, they clearly loved him and were so proud.

Some small, dark part of Zuko just about envied the kid. He didn’t know how lucky he truly was.

‘Azula was born lucky. You were lucky to be born.’

These peasants; this family – they had so little, yet – it was like they had so much.

Zuko was the Prince – ex-Prince of the Fire Nation, and he no longer had any of those things.

Maybe there was something wrong with him that made him so unlovable that Father – the Fire Lord – felt that he had to burn and banish him; strip him of his honor just to make him worthy of finally earning that love.

Azula earned it far more easily.

Mother had loved him freely. So had Uncle.

When Katara spoke of her father – she was upset that he had to leave, even if she understood. But he was clearly someone she missed. Katara didn’t – he was a man to be feared, but not by his children.

All of it had been--

Katara’s voice cut through his thoughts.

“Uh-What?” Zuko said, realizing that he hadn’t been paying attention.

“I was saying how it makes me miss my own family.”

She was quiet for a moment. Then she asked, “Do you miss your uncle?”

Her voice was gentle. Like she was carefully edging towards some trapped, panicked animal. She’d probably back off if Zuko pushed her away.

He found his voice, and instead answered with, “Yeah. I do.”

Zuko breathed in and out, with a loud sigh. His voice was barely a whisper, and he felt Katara shift closer so she could hear him.

“…A few weeks after the North...Uncle and I were at an inn recovering. Azula came to see us. I should have known, Uncle thought something was off. He even said so. He was right, because of course he always…” Zuko didn’t finish that sentence, because he didn’t know if he should use past or present tense. He continued, “Azula never does stuff like…she’s not some lowly message carrier. It should have been obvious because it was her.”

Zuko shifted, taking in a deep breath. Talking about this – finally saying it all out loud and admitting everything – to a sort-of-stranger-but-not, made it all the more real. Would Katara see him as pathetic and desperate as he’d felt?

Haltingly, he told Katara only the important bits and pieces of what had happened.

Azula had told him their father wanted him back – that he regretted everything. Father was sorry, and wanted Zuko back home.

(But Zuko wasn’t ready or willing to tell Katara why he’d had to leave in the first place. Thankfully, she didn’t ask.)

Zuko couldn’t believe it. After all this time, Father wanted him home; Father had forgiven him.

(Zuko felt his voice hitch – he wasn’t – he wasn’t crying, he adamantly refused – but – if there had been a light source in the barn where Katara could see his face, he definitely wouldn’t be talking about this at all.)

But because Azula always lies, Zuko had believed her.

(Why did he always believe her?)

Uncle had commented that something was off. He was the first to think that something about the whole situation was suspicious. But Zuko had told him that he was wrong. Zuko had thought that Uncle was just being a foolish, washed-up, tea-drinking old man who didn’t know what he was talking about. Like always.

(But Uncle always knew what to say, always knew how to read people far more easily. Zuko cringed at the thought of the insults he’d so often thrown at his uncle without caring. If he’d talked like that to Father – Zuko had just spoken up without insulting anyone, but he’d been disrespectful. Father would have done far worse than simply burn his face and banish him.)

Zuko was just so desperate, so homesick, simply wanted to earn Father’s forgiveness after everything, he didn’t even stop to consider – didn’t even listen – he thought he finally had…earned Father’s love.

He should have been suspicious because Azula was the messenger; but because Azula was the one telling him, he’d believed her.

The soldiers escorted them, treating them like the royalty they were.

They had been on the ship for several hours at that point when Zuko – his hearing had always been good; his right side now over-compensated to make up for his left. He overheard a conversation between the soldiers…

What were they supposed to do with the prisoners upon reaching the Fire Nation?

There were other details that Zuko nearly missed because of the roaring in his ears.

Uncle started speaking, asking what was wrong.

Zuko shushed him – and he listened. Was it a coup?

Seeing how serious Zuko was, Uncle immediately went quiet and listened too.

But then, Azula’s voice – Azula knew. She approved – she lied – Azula always lies.

‘Accidents happen,’ she said, ‘my brother’s hardly a threat. We can control dear, old Uncle if my brother is threatened, then Uncle will cooperate.’

People were speaking, and he listened as Azula left with them – her voice slowly fading out as she issued commands.

They were planning to use him – would threaten bodily harm – accidents happen, the Prince was struggling and oops, he injured himself – they planned to use him to make Uncle comply.

He’d been the one to hold Uncle back, if he hadn’t been there – been so useless –

Everything came crashing down as Zuko realized that Father wanted him back – but only in chains.

 (He heard Katara gasp. He felt her fingers brush up against his. He flinched, but didn’t pull away. Katara, probably encouraged, took hold of his hand. In a way, it grounded him. It brought a comfort he didn’t realize he’d needed.)

The gossip was that the invasion at the North Pole had been so disastrous, that someone needed to take the fall, and it certainly wasn’t going to be the Fire Lord.

Uncle frowned, putting pieces together that Zuko didn’t even realize were there because his mind was too busy processing what he’d heard.

'Zhao’s dead,' Uncle pointed out, 'so, even if Ozai approved of the plan, it went so disastrously. Someone has to take the fall. That leaves us as convenient scapegoats.'

Zuko could just hear Azula as if she were in the room right there with them as she mocked him for actually thinking that Father would want him back. Why would Father want someone who was a failure and brought him so much shame? At least he’d finally be useful.

‘Father’s going to kill you. No, really, he is.’

Azula always got into his head; and she wasn’t even actively trying right now.

Nearly three years of Zuko’s life – all of it – he began to realize, had been for absolutely nothing. Father had given him that small hope of returning; of finally being able to make him proud, and make up for – and he was never going to – Father didn’t want him. It would have hurt so much less if Father had just been up front with him and simply banished him with no hope of ever returning.

Uncle had Zuko move out of line of sight of the door. He waited a few minutes, and tested the door by opening it.

Uncle laughed, joked about being sore and old, asking if someone would mind bringing him some kind of tea…his nephew was asleep, didn’t want to bother him…

Zuko heard someone say that they’d go get the requested tea…

Once Uncle had confirmed that they had guards – that there was a suspiciously large number of them for two people who were supposed to be honored guests.

They whispered plans of escape, with Uncle imparting his nonsensical wisdom about pai-sho, Ba Sing Se, and reminding Zuko of the various things he’d taught him over the years.

Zuko opened the porthole. He could fit through. Drifting all those days on a makeshift raft and starving – Zuko had lost a lot of weight. If he’d been his usual size, there would have been no way for him to fit. Zuko never thought that he would thank Agni for that.

Maybe Zuko could get a lifeboat, except that would have made too much noise.

Zuko wanted to help Uncle too, but Uncle told him that there was no time. Uncle said that he’d only slow Zuko down, and Zuko tried to argue – but – then Zuko realized that Uncle hadn’t been planning escape for himself during the entire conversation.

Zuko hadn’t been able to help.

The ship docked at an Earth Kingdom port; there wasn’t time to figure out why.

They said their goodbyes, and Uncle called him ‘Son’ and said that he was so very proud.

 ‘Remember to think things through, nephew.’

(He’d done a real bang-up job of that, hadn’t he.)

 The last time he saw Uncle, when he was leaving him behind – Uncle smiled and waved.

He’d dived into the water, and held his breath, waiting. Just in case. There were no alarms signaling his escape. He swam away from the ship towards shore, but swam wide so he’d come onto a different dock on a different part of the island.

Zuko was alone, and the ship sailing back home – not his home anymore – he no longer had a home – it was long gone. Zuko sat on some Earth Kingdom shore, truly alone and realizing too late that the only one to actually care for him after his mother was Iroh. Realizing that through everything, Uncle had stuck with him even when Zuko had yelled, insulted, and cursed at him.

He hadn’t been able to help Uncle – Zuko had been useless, just like he always was. He couldn’t help Uncle. There was no way he could go up against an entire army – he didn’t have his swords, he didn’t have anything – and even if he could – his escape would have been for nothing.

So he’d cut his hair, and waited until nightfall to sneak into town. He stole clothes, supplies, some drunk guy’s ostrich-horse, and another’s dual dao.

With nowhere else to go, he’d simply wandered along, resorting to stealing what he needed to survive. He no longer had anything to strive towards.

Uncle had mentioned a few secret codes and playing pai-sho, and that was how he could get into Ba Sing Se – except, Zuko hadn’t really bothered to try. It felt too much like giving up. Hiding behind walls, and just…living out his life like a peasant for however many years because he couldn’t win.

He’d never win.

And not long after, he ran into Katara.

----

He’d finally told someone – admitting his stupidity, his failure, and how far he’d truly fallen. His other hand covered his face, hiding his shame, even though Katara couldn’t see him. She probably thought he was an idiot, too. Maybe she could finally tell him – pinpoint all the flaws that made him so –

Katara’s voice was barely a whisper, “I’m so sorry, Zuko.”

She sounded as if she truly meant it.

“I’m banished, and a fugitive on the run from my own country.” Zuko was spiraling, and he couldn’t stop. “I don’t have anything, anymore. There’s nowhere for me to go. I’m such an idiot and a failure, and Father was right about--”

Both hands clasped his own and squeezed tightly. She had such small, yet strong hands. His fingers slowly curled around her hand as he returned to himself, welcoming her comfort.

“No.” Her voice was firm. “You’re not any of those things – you make stupid decisions and you seriously make me want to smack some sense into you – but – you’re not an idiot. Whatever your father says about you, he’s wrong.”

Katara was… She didn’t know. She seemed to see things that he couldn’t, and he wasn’t sure why she was so…why she sounded so sure.

He’d lived with Ozai for thirteen years; and had only really known Katara for almost two weeks. She didn’t know everything about him, hadn’t known him long enough to see what Father could – and yet – she believed Father was wrong.

He didn’t know what to do with an unfamiliar, warm feeling that started to form in his stomach – like – it was different than his Inner Fire. It brought a different kind of warmth. He pushed the not-unpleasant-feeling aside. He focused on other things instead.

“What if they killed Uncle?” Zuko whispered. “He’s the only one who…what if they torture him? He’s a legitimate threat – what if they cut off his hands and feet? If not that, they probably have him locked away in the deepest, darkest cell without sunlight. Firebenders can go crazy and die if they’re cut off from the Sun long enough.”

“You can’t think like that, Zuko.” Katara said. “You have to have hope for the best. Because without that hope…all you can think about is the worst case scenarios. Do you really want to imagine your uncle being subject to all of that?”

She had a point. So he tried to be optimistic.

“…He’s a war hero, and a member of the royal family, so maybe they have him in chains locked in a cell where there’s sunlight. Maybe they’ve just broken his arms and legs and not cut them off.”

He wasn’t very good at optimism.

“Not exactly what I meant, but I’ll take it.” Katara replied with a humorless laugh.

She didn’t let go, and Zuko didn’t push her away.

They both were quiet, staring into the darkness.

Katara was first to break the silence.

“Zuko…you could come with me. Aang needs a firebending teacher.” Katara continued when he didn’t say anything. “You said yourself that you’re a fugitive. So give them an actual reason to make you a wanted criminal. Help Aang stop the war, and you can rescue your uncle.”

“I…” Zuko halted. “It’s more complicated than that, I…I don’t know. I’m not even…” he breathed in and out, holding onto her.

He wasn’t a very good Firebender, so there wasn’t much the Avatar could learn from him even if Zuko agreed to teach him.

He thought of his father, always towering over him, and the last time he’d seen Father…Zuko didn’t like thinking about it. He never liked thinking about it.

Zuko was loyal. He always had been. He wasn’t a traitor; he absolutely wasn’t.

But where had that loyalty gotten him? Burned, banished and sent off on a wild goose-pig chase. Zhao hadn’t respected him – his crew hadn’t respected him – Father constantly favored Zhao over his own son.

He’d been too stupid to see it then, wondering why…

The terms of his banishment had constantly gotten updated, always hindering his progress, and he’d receive letters informing him of towns he was no longer allowed to step foot in simply because they were now considered Fire Nation territory.

He traveled the world, yet it constantly felt like it was shrinking as the Fire Nation expanded. He’d believed in the Fire Nation’s cause for so long…but he’d been forced out. Why should he be loyal to a country that wasn’t loyal to him? But he loved the Fire Nation. It was his home.

The harsh reality of finally acknowledging and accepting that his father didn’t want him…Zuko didn’t want to admit that to Katara, though…he’d probably told her just enough that she’d probably figure it out on her own if she sorted through the pieces and thought about it hard enough. Maybe she’d already figured it out.

She didn’t pity him, but she probably would. He didn’t want pity.

His life had been ripped away from him not once, but twice; and the few remaining scraps he’d had left were gone.

The Avatar was the enemy…if Zuko helped him, there most definitely would be absolutely no going back.

“I…I don’t know.” Zuko said, because he was thinking of a home that should have been. Because siding with the Avatar made everything so…final.

Could he still have it if he…

It probably didn’t matter anymore.

“Okay.” Katara replied. “Just promise me you’ll think about it?”

“…Okay.”

Katara snuggled closer to him and didn’t let go of his hand.

“It’ll work out, Zuko. Everything will be okay, we’ll all get to go home.”

She spoke of families finally being able to reunite.

“I’ll revive waterbending back home. I’ll open a school, and teach the girls to fight and the boys to heal. The Waterbenders can learn whatever they want, no matter their gender.”

Katara had so much hope. She spoke of her plans as if they were already feasible – she just had to take that final, chasm-sized step forward.

It was a traitorous thought to think of a world that was not dominated by the Fire Nation. It was…

Gansu, Sela, and Lee could finally see Sansu again.

He could finally go home, and visit the turtle-duck pond whenever he wanted. Maybe Mother was still alive.

Katara could finally live the life she imagined.

Zuko fell asleep listening to Katara’s voice. Instead of his usual nightmares, he dreamt about the touch cool water and eyes of blue.

Chapter Text

Katara stood with her fists clenched, as she listened to Gow mock Gansu and Sela’s possible loss of their son. The nerve. How could someone be so cruel? Sensu was nineteen – only just. Gow said that the Fire Nation would use Earth Kingdom soldiers as bait against other Earth Kingdom forces – make them crush their own – which was a horrible nightmare. To think that a person could be killing their own companions thinking they were an enemy…

Katara caught Zuko how stiffened out of the corner of her eye, and she didn’t know what to make of it.

Gow sent a sneering look her way, then rode off with his buddies.

“I need to go,” Gansu started rambling. “I need to make sure…”

“No, please! Gansu!” Sela grabbed her husband’s arm. “You can’t!”

“I need to make sure our boy is safe!” Gansu yelled.

“What are you planning to do?!” Sela demanded. “What can you do?! You aren’t a warrior, Gansu!”

“I need to be sure whether or not Gow is telling the truth!”

“What if you get caught? What then?! What about us?!”

Lee was crying. He sniffed. Zuko reached for his shoulder, and Lee pulled away – but then practically slammed himself into Zuko as he hugged him.

Katara felt a tightness in her chest as she watched the couple fight. She listened to Lee sob. It reminded her too much of when Dad and the warriors left – and it was only a few weeks after Mom died. She and Sokka had snuck out to listen in on the village’s meetings as several members of the surrounding Tribes came together and decided that they should fight.

There was so much arguing and shouting in between people. Things had never felt so divided before.

She had desperately clung to Sokka and Gran-Gran as they watched their men sail away.

Her life had fallen apart back then. And to see it once again, with an entirely different family…

This wasn’t right.

She remembered how the women and children wept. When news reached them months after the loss of loved ones months after the fact, the Tribes sang mourning songs for loved ones and strangers. Katara didn’t always know their faces; only their names.

Katara wiped her eyes.

Sela managed to convince Gansu not to potentially go up against a faction of the Fire Nation Army by himself.

She and Zuko were supposed to leave today.

The family bade Katara and Zuko goodbye, and wished them well, and then went into the house.

“This is – it isn’t right. It isn’t fair.” Katara said.

“…Life isn’t fair.” Zuko replied, sounding oddly detached.

“We have to do something.” Katara determined. She wasn’t that powerless little girl anymore. Because if it was in her power to do something, anything, by the Spirits she would.

“Like what?” Zuko asked.

“We have to help them!”

Zuko shook his head. “You heard them – his unit’s likely been captured – and if an entire army doesn’t stand a chance, then what do you expect to do?”

“I…I don’t know,” Katara admitted. “But I want to. I need to.”

“Why? What difference will it make?” He wasn’t looking at her.

“Zuko. Gow said… They’re going to sacrifice people.” She looked at Zuko, imploringly. But he still wouldn’t look at her. “Please. Or – I’ll do some sort of rescue on my own, and you can just stay here!”

Her voice was a mix of begging and accusing. She couldn’t see Zuko’s face because of his hat, and he had his head down.

“Why would you even try?”

Katara had no idea what the tone in Zuko’s voice meant. It sounded almost pained.

“People are dying all the time on both sides. Why does this matter so much?”

That was a long list. Because it was wrong and cruel. Because she’d gotten to know this family and knew the pain of loss all too well. Because of how much she and so many others desperately wished that there had been just something – anything, that would have resulted in a different outcome – and that their men would finally come home. Because these people desperately needed to not have their hope completely crushed. Because this time, she could actually do something. It may be just that one, small, seemingly insignificant drop in the ocean; but drops created ripples.

“Because we both know this isn’t right. I can’t just stand by and – and just live with myself knowing I could have done something. I’d hate wondering if I could have.” Katara reached for Zuko, gripping his arm tightly, imploringly. Finally, he looked at her.

“Because when you have the power to help people and don’t step up – it’s-it’s just not right. It’s because they,” the Fire Nation, she didn’t say, “think they can get away with using people like bait.”

Zuko’s expression was somehow even more unreadable. Like he was searching for something, but she couldn’t tell what it was.

His shoulders sagged, briefly. Then he sighed, pulling away from her. He ran his hands over his face. “Fine. We…fine.”

Katara smiled. “Thank you, Zuko.”

----

Gow was rather pathetic, all things considered.

Admittedly, Katara was impressed by how quickly and silently Zuko snuck up on him. He then threw Gow to the ground, and Katara froze him there. Then Zuko held a blade to the man’s throat.

They got whatever information they could from him about Sensu’s unit’s location, since the man seemed to like bragging that he knew.

Bitterly, Gow shared what he could.

Katara unfroze him, and the man glared at them both as they left.

----

Neither of them spoke much as they made their way to the Earth Kingdom turned Fire Nation base.

Zuko didn’t know why he was doing this. This actually was treasonous.

But he thought about Katara, begging him to help these people – and he couldn’t help but think of himself, standing up in a war council protesting that people shouldn’t be sacrificed.

He was doing this because…

Maybe because Lu Ten never got to come home; and as a result Zuko’s life fell apart.

Maybe he was doing this for selfish reasons. That he saw aspects of himself in Lee. Or because Katara asked him – and her impassioned reasoning had in part convinced him to do something so extremely dangerous and foolish.

Uncle was always telling him to think things through, but maybe he didn’t really plan ahead that well for this.

This was insane; though some small voice in the back of his mind whispered you snuck into Pohuai all by yourself, remember.

This time, Zuko had an ally; and he didn’t want to get knocked out again.

----

They reached the base early the next morning.

That gave them plenty of time to rest, and come up with a makeshift plan.

When Uncle told him to think things through, this probably wasn’t exactly what he meant.

They didn’t exactly have the luxury of time; considering the Fire Nation soldiers could move out with the prisoners that day.

Using some of their extra clothing, Katara put her sewing skills to use.

She made a mask for Zuko that he could slip over his head.

They needed a disguise for Katara; her blue outfit would stand out far too much.

So she borrowed Zuko’s hat; and she wore a brownish-red men’s hanfu, which was something Zuko had acquired. It was a little big for Zuko; which meant that Katara was nearly drowning in it. With Zuko’s permission, Katara cut off part of the bottom and used the extra material to make a belt and to help tie up her sleeves. She also had some material to tie around the bottom half of her face.

So. Their plan was to sneak into the base in the early hours of the morning while the sun was still down and most people would be asleep – and the Firebenders would be at their weakest. They also had allies with the Earthbenders – if worst came to worst.

“I rise with the Moon and you with the Sun, right?” Katara grinned.

Zuko groaned, regretting that he ever said such a thing in the first place. It had sounded so good at the time.

----

After ground-tying Chi-Chi, Katara followed closely after Zuko as they snuck towards the base. They got in easily enough.

There were holes in their security. Either they’d gotten overly confident no-one would be dumb enough to break-in; or they had gotten lax. Zuko ducked around corners, making sure that the coast was clear.

At one point, as they snuck towards the prison cells, Zuko suddenly held up a hand. He felt Katara bump into him. He watched as a couple of Fire Nation guards had met up during their nightly patrol and were chatting.

And ugh they were standing there for several minutes!

He was considering somehow making a noise as a distraction. Katara apparently was thinking along the same lines. She used some waterbending to produce a noise that was several feet away from where they were. While the guards went to go check it out, she and Zuko quickly moved on.

“I think we can get people out without anyone on either side dying…” Zuko whispered.

Katara nodded in agreement. “Just sneak in and out like the prisoners were never here.”

---

It was easy enough to find the prison, and they swiftly apprehended the guards; with Zuko putting one in sleeper’s hold, and Katara freezing the other’s mouth and nose.

It was a technique she’d learned from the women up North, and it required a certain precision. Timing it long enough for a person to simply pass out from lack of oxygen, rather than suffocate.

The prisoners of course, were confused about who their rescuers were.

Katara was the one to speak up as she opened the cell doors with the keys. “Which one of you is Sensu?”

Sensu – thank you, Spirits, was alive. He looked like Sela.

“We’ve met your family, and Sela really had to talk Gansu down from coming here.” Katara said. “Lee really misses his big brother.”

“You’ve met my family…? Why…?” Sensu truly did look confused.

“Explanations later.” Katara said. “Let’s just sneak out – we don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

There seemed to be a mix of what they should do. Some of the Earthbenders seemed skeptical as if this was some sort of elaborate trap set up by the Fire Nation. Others definitely wanted to leave. Some though, wanted to get back at their captors.

“All of you are alive and intact right now, aren’t you?” Zuko asked. “Are you really willing to risk your lives to get back at the enemy? If you do, they’ll definitely hunt down those who simply didn’t want to fight and escape.”

Katara quickly nodded. “This is a time when fighting’s not worth it.”

“You’ll be hours, even an entire day ahead of them by the time they realize something’s wrong.”

She could hear the desperation in Zuko’s tone.

That at least, got everyone to stop and actually think.

With a team of Earthbenders, they simply sunk into the ground and burrowed through the earth for several miles until Zuko told them to stop.

They went upwards.

Chi-Chi was about thirty feet away, and she glanced at their sudden appearance with some curiosity.

The soldiers gave whispered cheers.

“Sensu, go see your family, okay?” Katara told him with a smile.

“Who are you?” Sensu asked.

“Just a couple of lost travelers.” Zuko replied flatly.

Katara and Zuko quickly mounted Chi-Chi and they were on their way before the soldiers could ask anything else.

They were a good distance away when Katara whooped, spreading her arms out. She nearly fell off of Chi-Chi, though – and she squeaked as she quickly grabbed Zuko to stay on.

“Be careful!” Zuko snapped at her.

Katara only laughed, and hugged Zuko tighter.

“Thank you, Zuko.”

He turned to look at her out of the corner of his good eye – both his eyes were good – so it was his better eye – Katara stamped that thought down. Where had that even come from?

Her face felt warm. Maybe it was just from the morning sun, or she was tired, or something.

“I…know you didn’t really want to do this, but… You don’t know how much this meant to me.” Katara hugged Zuko a bit awkwardly from behind, pressing herself against him. “Thank you.”

His eye widened slightly, and she thought she caught blush on his face; but it was difficult to tell because of their position and with how quickly he turned away from her.

“Whatever. It wasn’t-it was no pro-blem.” Zuko’s voice cracked oddly.

Katara said nothing; she leaned into Zuko and smiled.

-=-=-=-

It was a few days later that Sela, Gansu and Lee were shocked – and absolutely thrilled that Sensu came home – and apparently brought several members of his unit to visit.

There was also an incident with Gow.

The soldiers were not pleased with him – especially the highest ranking commander among them.

It didn’t take long for the town to learn that Gow wasn’t part of the Earth Kingdom army. Gow it turned out, had been dishonorably discharged; and his henchmen weren’t even part of the army either.

While the army certainly did set up soldiers in towns like theirs, they didn’t operate in any capacity close to what Gow had been doing.

Commandor Ori figured that if Gow and his men wanted to be part of the army so badly, he would happily oblige them.

When Sela asked Sensu about what had happened, and he explained that a strange couple riding on an ostrich-horse – the young man had dual-dao, and the woman was a Waterbender – Sela began crying tears of joy.

She wondered if the two had been Spirits of some sort, and because she and her family had helped them, the strange-possibly-Spirits couple paid her and her family back by rescuing Sensu’s unit.

-=-=-=-=-

They reached a town later that day. It was actually a bit livelier than anything else they had seen in their travels lately.

Katara followed Zuko to the tavern, wondering why they were coming here.

“Hopefully, we’ll get our tickets to Ba Sing Se.” Zuko replied.

She had no idea how going to a tavern would help, and briefly recalled Zuko saying something similar before…

Zuko walked up to an old man sitting in the corner with a pai-sho board.

They both said some sort of mumbo-jumbo like code words or something, and then Zuko was laying tiles down – and then it shaped a lotus…?

“This isn’t exactly conventional, I have to say…” the old man replied, stroking his beard. “The tiles may form the lotus, but they aren’t placed correctly.”

“Well, Uncle didn’t exactly have time to tell me where all the stupid tiles should be placed when I was escaping, okay?!” Zuko snapped.

Katara frowned and whacked Zuko’s shoulder in obvious disapproval. He at least had the good grace to look reprimanded as he muttered an apology.

The man frowned. “Iroh was caught?”

Katara questioned how exactly this man in the middle of nowhere could possibly know who Zuko’s uncle was.

“I don’t even know if he’s still alive. But…he wanted me - now us, I guess, to get into Ba Sing Se.”

The old man didn’t ask any questions. He just nodded, looking at them. “Simple enough. We’ll work something out. There’s a festival tonight, so you won’t be leaving until the morning.”

Zuko didn’t look happy about that.

The old man whose name was Teng-Yu, invited them to stay at his house for that night.

Katara was looking forward to finally being able to get cleaned up.

Teng-Yu’s wife Ming, gave Katara a new sets of clothes. Zuko’s were fine – but hers unfortunately, hadn’t withstood her trek through the Earth Kingdom. Katara was saddened by the loss. It was just clothing, but this was a piece of her homeland. Gran-Gran had helped Katara as they cut, dyed and stitched their family’s clothing. Precious memories were sewn into her outfit.

It was like throwing a piece of home away.

Ming helped her cut the fabric up, and they sewed the pieces to the green fabric. In a way, the colors complimented each other. Katara ran a finger along the stitching, with a small smile. This was making a new memory.

Out of the corner of her eye, Katara thought that Zuko was looking at her – but when she looked at him, he was very pointedly not looking at her?

“What do you think?” Katara asked, giving a little spin to show off.

“It’s uh,” Zuko looked surprised she’d even ask. He also seemed nervous. “It’s uh, very nice?”

For some reason she couldn’t name, that answer ticked her off. It was like she wanted a different answer.

Katara huffed. “Why did you say it as a question?”

“Well, I…” Zuko’s face seemed to color a bit. Instead of answering her, he replied with, “I’m going to go take care of Chi-Chi. You want to come with?”

Disappointed slightly, Katara just nodded.

Part of their preparations in getting ready to leave was that they had to sell Chi-Chi. There was no way they could take her into Ba Sing Se because of severe restrictions when it came to outside animals.

It was a bit sad that they had to say goodbye to Chi-Chi, especially after she had taken them so far. They sold her to a farmer who promised to take good care of her.

Zuko gave Chi-Chi’s jaw a final scratch, and Katara scratched her neck. The ostrich-horse basked in the attention.

They finally turned and left.

“I never had any pets, well…” Zuko started to say, but he stopped himself. His expression looked wistful, along with something else. He didn’t finish whatever he’d started to say. “Anyway, it was nice that I-we could have Chi-Chi for a bit.”

Katara nodded.

She folded her hands behind her back. “Are you looking forward to the festival?”

He shrugged. “I wasn’t intending to go.”

Katara leaned towards him to whisper, “Zuko, come with me, please! I’ve never been to a festival before.”

“…Not ever? In your life?”

“Nope. So be my date tonight!” Katara whined a little, obviously teasing and just to be a bit annoying.

Only after when the words were out of her mouth did Katara realize what she’d just said.

“…Fine.” Zuko’s unscarred cheek was definitely dusted pink.

---

The music was loud; it was a bouncy tune.

Zuko looked cranky, like he didn’t want to be there.

But Katara was mesmerized. There were lit lanterns, and the smells of a various foods filled her nose.

Around them, several people were dancing to the music and others were drinking.

After some cajoling, Katara managed to convince Zuko to at least have one dance with her.

Mr. “I don’t dance” actually looked as if he were having a good time. Because “Just one dance” actually turned into two.

The music stopped only momentarily as the musicians discussed their next song.

“Kiss! Kiss!” various people around them drunkenly shouted at the couples. So several people around them were kissing.

A man slapped Zuko’s back, nearly making him stumble forward into Katara. “Plant one on ‘er!”

Thankfully, he kept his balance. That would have been an embarrassing display if they’d actually toppled to the ground.

Zuko was blushing terribly. He turned his head to face the man. “I am not going to kiss her!”

Now, Katara found herself insulted. Zuko may not have wanted to kiss her, but he didn’t have to make it sound so unpleasant.

Standing on her tip-toes, Katara kissed Zuko’s cheek while he was shouting at the old man. Ha! That’ll show him!

Zuko stopped and froze for some reason. Like a simple kiss on his cheek was a bigger deal than it was. He slowly turned to face her, and was staring at her with a strange look on his face. Like he was looking for something, but Katara had no idea what it could have been.

“Y-you…w-” Zuko was cut off when a few of the people closest to them booed.

“That’s not a kiss!”

Others were laughing uproariously at whatever else was going on around them. Katara didn’t focus on any of it, because of what the others were saying.

“They, um. They probably won’t leave us alone until we…you know.” Zuko whispered. “Kiss. Only if you want. I mean…we could make an excuse to leave.”

Honestly…Katara found herself wanting to kiss him. Just – just out of curiosity. That was all.

Zuko continued rambling quietly, as he talked about making excuses.

Katara whispered, “Zuko. Shut up and kiss me already.”

He stopped and looked at her with that odd, searching expression again. “You’re sure?”

Katara blushed and nodded.

She had to tilt her head back a little, and Zuko slowly leaned in. She met him the rest of the way.

One of his hands held onto the back of her head. Katara reached up with both hands and held onto Zuko’s face.

Katara had only ever kissed two people in her life. One was Aang – it was the brush of a kiss – a sort of desperate obligation to hopefully escape the cave. She hadn’t really felt anything. Wasn’t a person supposed to feel something?

The other was Jet. He’d been a little too pushy, and too much. He’d tried using his tongue, and it had made her uncomfortable. He’d respected her boundaries when she wanted to stop, but the disappointment had been obvious. Katara had felt guilty afterwards, like she was in the wrong – and she knew now she hadn’t been. But thank the Spirits that she hadn’t gone through with it when Jet revealed his true intentions.

With Zuko – it was awkward in the best way. Neither of them really knew what they were doing. Shivers went up and down Katara’s spine, and her tummy felt as if thousands of butterfly-mice were flapping and scurrying up a storm.

She maybe didn’t want Zuko to stop.

There was noise all around her; picking up, louder and louder, but it was drowned out. Like it was just her and Zuko. The music changed to a different song.

Why was she feeling such disappointment when he pulled away?

He was looking at her again – she couldn’t read his expression. She didn’t know – Zuko leaned forward, burying his face into the crook of her neck and hair. It had to be a bit uncomfortable.

She had no idea what he was doing, and she stiffened up, not knowing what to do as he embraced her.

His voice was oddly tight as he whispered, “I’ll stop if you want me to.”

“N-no. Uh, no. I don’t mind.” She wrapped her arms around him as well. They weren’t dancing anymore; it was more like shuffling a bit side-to-side. This seemed like something Zuko really needed, for some reason.

Katara was glad that she could provide that comfort; that Zuko could silently confide in her.

----

That night, Zuko laid there in their shared bedroom that Teng-Yu and Ming had set up for them. With one bed, dammit. It also felt far too small.

Right now, he was screaming internally. He was absolutely mortified.

He berated himself. What had he been thinking?! That was so embarrassing! Katara probably thought he was weird. He had leaned against her, tucked his face into her neck; all while they shuffled back and forth in some sort of “dance”.

He covered his face with both hands, desperately wishing he could actually scream.

Zuko had gone and made things really awkward between them.

The door opened, and Zuko muffled a surprised curse.

“Oh, hey, Zuko.”

He tried to figure out if she had a tone to her voice.

“H-hey.”

Zuko cringed. He had a tone to his voice.

“Are you okay?”

Ugh. No.

“Yes. You?”

“Yeah…I’m good.” She seemed disappointed. Was he reading that right?

Katara laid down and whispered, “Goodnight.”

“Night…”

Was it awkward? Was he the only one who thought it was awkward?

She turned so that her back was to him, but was also pressed up against him. He didn’t want to shift to see how much room she had. Otherwise, she’d wonder what he was doing.

She had kissed his scar.

Katara had kissed his scar – and from her reaction earlier, she wasn’t disgusted. She didn’t even seem to notice she had done it.

Back before – before his life fell apart – so many people would comment how handsome he was. How much he took after his father.

Ever since the – people had looked at him with fear, disgust, and pity. Some had made jokes at his expense. He’d heard what people had said – how could he not?

‘What a shame, it looks like he used to have such a handsome face…’

All his life seemed be ever since then was, ‘used to’. He used to be so many things.

Zuko had never let anyone touch it – much less let anyone anywhere near it.

He’d protested kissing Katara because – why would she even want to? He was the enemy. Maybe used to(?) (ha) be the enemy. But there was also how he looked. Zuko hated how it made him feel shallow because people no longer said nice things about his face anymore.

So he’d showed it off almost defiantly, as if the comments didn’t bother him. That he wasn’t going to hide his shame.

But then Katara kissed him, and she wasn’t disgusted.

The drunk partygoers didn’t leave them alone – so – Zuko just wanted – wanted to be sure. He’d given her a chance to walk away – maybe she made a mistake or was playing a part.

He’d rambled out excuses – she could take one and he’d run with it – never bring it up again. He’d understand.

Katara still kissed him. She’d leaned into him, and didn’t push him away afterwards.

Zuko hadn’t expected such a simple thing to mean so much.

He’d leaned down, resting his head on her shoulder. Maybe he’d tell her one day, if they were still teamed up then.

It had been more than enough.

But still. Zuko felt absolute mortification as his brain assaulted him with the events from earlier.

Katara huffed as she turned slightly to look at him with a glare. “Zuko, seriously, stop it. You’re way too hot.”

She shifted so that he back was to him again.

Maybe Agni would look favorably upon him just this once, and Zuko could just die from this embarrassment so he wouldn’t have to face Katara tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Katara huffed as she turned slightly to look at him with a glare. “Zuko, seriously, stop it. You’re  way  too hot.”

Katara turned back over and wanted to slap herself.

She had completely misspoke! She meant to say ‘you’re making it too hot’, but it had come out like – like that! She was just flustered and annoyed, and it was somehow Zuko’s fault.

Katara felt Zuko shift behind her, and his back was pressed against hers.

It felt…good. That annoyed her.

They had kissed. Which was really nice. That confused her.

They had kissed, but then Zuko was acting all…weird? He wouldn’t look at her, and his voice had an odd tone that she couldn’t place and she didn’t know what it meant. Was he annoyed by the kiss? Did he think that because she was some lowly, Water Tribe peasant that he had sullied himself by kissing her?

Katara’s thoughts raced, spiraling off into fox-rabbit trails.

Stupid kiss. Stupid Zuko. Stupid Katara. Stupid having to share the bed and feel him right there behind her. Also, stupid Azula and her friends for getting both of them in this stupid situation.

Stupid, stupid, stupid…

Katara would have slapped herself if she thought it would have helped, but that probably would have woken up Zuko. He’d wonder what she was doing. She’d have to talk to him.

Katara didn’t get much sleep.

===

Zuko woke up first as usual.

Katara had wrapped herself around him, clinging like a koala-monkey.

He extracted himself from her limbs, with her mumbling quiet complaints as he did so. She wrapped herself in the blankets once he was free.

He did his usual morning routine, and for lack of anything else to do, helped Teng-Yu and Ming in the kitchen. Zuko didn’t touch the tea, though. His skills were – Uncle always said…would have said… Uncle always prepared the tea.

They waited until Katara got up to go over their plans on getting into Ba Sing Se.

Teng-Yu presented them with passports…that showed them as being husband and wife. Now Ming presented them with a couple of cheap wedding rings.

Zuko glanced at Katara.

She didn’t look happy.

He scowled and scooted away from her, just slightly.

====

Katara had to play pretend-married.

Earlier, it was fine because she hadn’t kissed him. They were playing a role and they had to explain things without people really asking the wrong questions and risking Zuko getting revealed.

But now…he seemed to not want anything to with her.

He scooted away from her, and it was insulting and it hurt.

“Do we have to be married?” she asked, trying but failing to make sure she didn’t sound like a petulant child.

“It’s easier to explain why you’re traveling together.” Teng-Yu said, and he was glancing back and forth between them, like it was obvious. “It also ensures that you won’t get separated.”

Zuko wasn’t looking at her.

He’d shut her out.

Katara was even more annoyed than before. This was sort of like how he was when they first started traveling together, but it was also different.

She decided to be the mature one. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t also be petty when the opportunities presented themselves.

“Well, dear,” Katara said with a beaming smile, admiring her ring, “this is the start of a new adventure and a beautiful life together.”

Zuko scowled at her. He slipped on his ring and just left.

Ass.

===

Zuko had done something wrong. He just didn’t know what it was yet. Or if he had done anything wrong.

Katara was mad at him, and was clearly trying to goad a reaction out of him.

He’d learned the hard way more than once, especially living with Fath–Ozai – and Azula, that one or both of them acting like this meant that they expected him to know. Getting angry that he didn’t, and acting like he should have known all along. Them acting like this never meant anything good.

Methods he employed were to simply try and ignore or barely acknowledge – or politely acknowledge – just act – accordingly. Try and see and guess and hope that he was guessing right.

Maybe she was mad about the kiss – was annoyed that it was him – that he had misread everything, had misjudged, assuming – and now she expected him to – do something.

All he could do was ignore her and acknowledge where and when he needed to. Follow a script that was being written as they went and hope that he played the part right.

It hurt, a little that he’d thought she was…

He could keep her on his right, where he could see her clearly, and she wouldn’t have to look at it if it disgusted her so much.

He could keep her on his left; she would be forced to look at it; at the risk of him not being able to see or hear her clearly.

====

Ming had a couple of friends who were going to drop them off at a port, where they would then make their way by boat to Ba Sing Se.

Bao and Lia both seemed far too amused.

Lia cracked a smile. She wasn’t subtle at all, which was obviously on purpose as she spoke to Ming.

“Aw, are they fighting? They’re like an old married couple already.”

She cackled.

Katara was irked.

“As if I’d want to be married to him!”

“It’s not like I’d want to be married to you, either!”

Now Zuko wanted to talk to her?

“I didn’t realize I was so unpleasant!”

“About time you noticed!”

“Ass!”

“Peasant!”

Both of them glared at each other.

---

The others in the room all shared awkward glances. They had no idea what exactly was going on, when the two seemed well, cozier and much happier the night before.

“This is gonna be a long trip, I imagine.” Bao muttered. He was not talking about distance.

They said their goodbyes, and Zuko and Katara said their thanks to their hosts. Though, both of them glared at each other after having done so.

---

Zuko barely acknowledged Katara, only doing so when he absolutely had to.

He purposefully distanced himself from her, but she kept trying goad him – trying to elicit a reaction – and then once he finally snapped, she’d surely mock him for it.

Katara was being too nice – there was a trap in there somewhere, he just knew it. So barely acknowledging was the way to go. But then she’d just get even more nice and too friendly.

He was now trying to figure out a proper response to get her to stop without exactly acknowledging her and without snapping; because that was the response she wanted – wasn’t it?

Accounting for his luck and knowing his track record; Zuko would have to play his own game to hopefully throw hers off – and maybe try and guess what hers was.

----

Katara was being petty by being nice; being the bigger person. It clearly made Zuko uncomfortable.

Good.

Traveling with Bao and Lia was nice, because that meant she wasn’t stuck talking to Zuko, or being forced into his company.

But it was made all the more frustrating because Zuko barely acknowledged her, and only said a few words here and there, not giving her much of anything.

But then, he’d straight up talk to Bao while ignoring her.

It hurt.

And not only that – he’d offered up random bits of information about his – the Fire Nation. Information he hadn’t exactly given her so freely. He was doing it on purpose! Trying to goad a reaction or a response?

As if she’d fall for that!

So Katara stepped up in her niceness and decided that she’d just make Zuko consider the possibility that she might have done something to his tea or food, or even his clothes.

“Those pants look so good, Li! I was worried the seams would show.” Katara walked away, laughing, leaving Zuko to check his pants for the damage she didn’t do.

It was so irritating that he was acting like this.

Because she’d thought that the kiss meant something to him. The way he’d leaned onto her and held her – it felt like – something so personal – that she’d unlocked a door that Zuko had kept shut tight.

But now, he’d slammed the door shut in her face.

The conversations with Bao only lasted for a little over a day. He went completely onto his vague answers and not saying anything.

Katara was woken up far too early the next day when Zuko practically shoved her away.

“Don’t touch me.”

It was near evening on the second day when Katara overheard Zuko muttering to himself and searching through his things, and inspecting his possessions closely.

“She’s just trying to get in your head. She didn’t do anything. She didn’t…don’t let her…”

Guilt surged into Katara gut that she’d driven Zuko to such an extreme. So, she stopped with the comments and making him think that she potentially could have done something. She was still mad at him, so kept up being overly polite and nice.

Zuko’s posture was stiff and he made himself as entirely unapproachable as possible.

Two-and-a-half days later, they’d finally reach the port. Katara almost wished that the officials would in fact split her and Zuko up through some sort of mishap.

Katara helped Lia prepare their dinner while Zuko and Bao set up their tents. Two tents. And well. That meant yet again she and Zuko would be forced to share a space.

It was hard being mad at someone when you were forced to be in the same, cramped space.

Zuko distanced himself by having the excuse that he had to brush the ostrich-horses. Or polishing the wood that made up the wagon “just in case of splinters” or some such excuse.

===

Alright. So. Lia would admit that it had been rather amusing when this trip started. Seeing these two kids squabble. Young love, two people figuring themselves and each out, and all that.

But now, it was getting annoying.

Zuko (or rather ‘Li’) kept on glaring at Katara and ignoring her. Giving basic, one to three word answers.

He spoke just fine to Bao, all within earshot of Katara – and he kept looking back at her – was he doing it on purpose? The way he shut himself down around her made Lia think that he wasn’t exactly doing it on purpose. Rather…it was a way to fight her without directly confronting her.

“So anyway, there’s this frog-rabbit that lives in swamps. They’re very musical. They’re actually kinda fluffy.”

Zuko glanced at Katara and smirked, like he was testing something.

Katara’s mouth moved. Almost, almost, as if she wanted to ask questions.

“Okay…” Bao nodded at Zuko because of the random bits of conversation being thrown his way.

Or maybe the brat was being petty.

Tch! And using her husband to do it, too!

But then he’d turn around and scowl and give the girl vague answers.

The girl wasn’t any better.

She kept throwing in jabs and being all nice and sweet.

“Here you are, Lia, Bao!” Katara’s voice chimed something sweet as she set their teacups down.

“Here, we are,” Katara’s voice took on a suspicious sounding quality. “Tea for my dear Li. Oh, don’t worry, I didn’t put anything in it.”

Zuko, bless him, clearly wanted to snap.

The two needed to resolve this, now. Or it all would explode at the most inopportune time.

====

“Sweetie,” Lia said quite seriously, and very bluntly, speaking with a whisper. “You know, to pull off being a married couple, you have to act like it. You’ll draw unwanted attention to yourselves if this isn’t resolved. There’s strange and dangerous things going on in that city. Even if there are hundreds of people, the guards will notice.”

Lia threw in a few slices of tomato-quat into the soup for extra flavor.

“You’ll be lucky if you ever see each other again. So, get over yourself and talk to him.”

Katara felt hot tears burn behind her eyes.

She wished Mom were here. She desperately missed Gran-Gran.

She wished she could have talked to them, and not some stranger.

The tears came now. Katara furiously whipped them away.

“Why do I have to be the one to do it?”

Lia scoffed. “Sweetie, he’s a teenage boy on the cusp of manhood. An unfortunate task that was bestowed upon us women when we were put here was to be the voice of reason and make up for the common sense men often lack.”

Katara thought of all the instances when Sokka managed to get himself into trouble, and how he’d yell back at her, ‘Do not tell me I told you so! Just get Gran-Gran and help me!’

She laughed and sniffed.

“Anyway, you need to talk to him and get this nonsense resolved before getting to the port. It’ll cause unneeded trouble.”

“Does it really have to be me?” Katara asked petulantly.

“Yes. Because foolish as you are, you’re far more level-headed.”

“Gee. Thanks.”

“Good. Now that that’s settled, we can finish dinner and you can talk to him.”

“How?” Katara asked. “He just shuts me out, and – he – won’t even – ahhh!”

Katara muffled a frustrated scream into her hands.

“Get used to it now, sweetie.” Lia said, patting Katara on the shoulder consolingly. “I love Bao more than my own heart, but there have been times he seriously made me contemplate an unfortunate accident and leaving his body to the hog-vultures.”

Lia cackled.

It was far better to not have conflict, Katara knew. But having to be the one to talk to Zuko, and be the first one to take the steps to resolve the problem sucked.

Bao and Zuko both finally sat down.

Zuko didn’t acknowledge her.

She helped Lia finish preparing dinner, and kept her distance.

She prepared tea and poured it for Zuko. He stared at his cup as if she’d poisoned it.

===

His own attempt at a game had quickly fizzled out because it became too hard to maintain. (How did Azula manage it?) And he’d noticed the hurt expression on Katara’s face that lasted for a few seconds before it shifted into one of anger. Guilt twisted in his gut and heart, though – he couldn’t exactly place why he’d care so much if Katara had her feelings hurt.

It was just…he didn’t want to be the one responsible for putting that expression there. That was all.

After dinner, Zuko noticed Katara approach out of the corner of his eye. Bao and Lia went to their tent. Leaving him with –

He quickly stiffened up and put on a scowl, preparing to play whatever game she was trying to force him into.

“We need to talk.”

Those words never meant anything good. Anxiety stormed in Zuko’s gut, because – it meant – he had done something wrong – but he was sure he hadn’t – so – there wasn’t anything Katara could accuse him of.

“So. You’re just going to keep ignoring me. Real mature.” Katara said, sitting down next to him. On his right.

Here she was, talking about ‘maturity’ when she was. Constantly making those comments? But she’d stopped…for now?

Had she sat on his right on purpose? Was she being considerate? Did she hate looking at it?

He said nothing, but scooted away. Stubbornly refusing to fall for any traps – because she had to be setting them up somewhere, and he’d failed in identifying her game.

“Seriously, what the hell, Zuko?!” Katara wasn’t yelling. Her voice just raised a bit.

Finally, he snapped. Because – he didn’t know what Katara was playing at. He was exhausted. He stopped, and she didn’t. Didn’t understand what she wanted from him – why was she acting like the one who was upset?

Zuko’s voice rose as he stood up, practically looming over her. “What is your problem?!”

Katara jammed a finger into his chest. “You are, you ass!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was so terrible!”

===

Katara was shaking. If there had been a stream nearby, she would have probably drained it as she threw all of it at Zuko.

“Yeah, well you are!” Katara hated that her emotions seemed to be betraying her, and she didn’t know why it had to hurt so much. “We kissed! I thought – I thought it meant something, but – you don’t even –!”

Katara’s voice hitched. She couldn’t – she was not going to cry over this! She would not let Zuko see –

She wiped her face. She hated crying over this. “Did it even matter to you?”

He was finally looking at her – with a wide-eyed, shocked expression.

“You…” he started, but then turned away. Zuko covered his face with both hands as he sat back down. He wouldn’t look up at her.

He mumbled something.

Katara crossed her arms. Sitting down would mean having to be next to Zuko. She didn’t want that – not right now.

“I didn’t catch that.” Katara said tightly.

“You…you kissed it.” Zuko’s voice was quiet, but he still wasn’t looking at her. “You kissed it and weren’t…you didn’t…”

“What?” Katara now sat down, looking at him.

“The scar. You kissed it and me, and you weren’t disgusted.”

“The scar…? It’s just a part of your face?” Katara said, because the scar was just there.

But that had been the wrong thing to say, because Zuko was yelling at her, “It’s not just a part of my face, Katara!”

A part of her was angry that he’d yelled at her like that – but then – she had to step back and really take in Zuko’s expression. He looked almost hurt – and defensive and –

“I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant.”

Zuko just, slumped where he was sitting, like he was exhausted. But still, he shifted so he was looking at her.

“Yeah? And what did you mean?”

The tone in his voice indicated that he was gearing up for a fight. Waiting to throw whatever back and then some.

Katara sighed. “I just meant…it’s how I’ve always known you. It’s just how you’ve always looked, and – I’m –“

“I didn’t always look like this, you know.”

“Zuko, that’s not…” he was taking her words far differently than she meant them. From the way his posture was wound up tight and his shoulders were up near his ears, Zuko was ready to fight, even if there wasn’t one to be had.

“…Does it bother you?” she asked instead.

He looked surprised before turning away again.

“It…it’s ugly.”

Katara got the feeling he wasn’t talking about just the scar. Actually. Probably a whole lot more than the scar.

She reached for Zuko slowly, pulling his face to look at her. He stiffened up as she gently ran her hand along the scar. Giving him the chance to pull away if he wanted. But he didn’t. In fact, he loosened up a little.

She thought for a moment. “I could probably heal it. I don’t want to promise anything, but…”

She’d said it without really thinking. They were only temporary allies. This could be a huge mistake. But she pressed forward – this was – if this was a mistake, she’d never forgive herself or Zuko.

Katara showed him the Spirit Water.

“I’d been saving it for something important.”

His expression was a strange mix of emotions. Confusion, suspicion, surprise…

“Why me?” he asked instead.

“Because it’s obviously important to you.”

His expression shifted to something else. “I don’t know.”

“Well…think about it?”

“Yeah. Okay.”

She could pull away, now. She should. There was no reason to keep sitting here like this, with her hand on his scar – his face. But he didn’t pull away from her either.

Her thumb gently traced along the bottom of his eye. Zuko seemed to lean into her hand.

“I could at least, try and heal what I can.”

“Um. Yeah. Okay.”

She wrapped glowing water around her hand, running it gently along the scar. She felt – the resistance of scar tissue. She felt how the small hairs inside his ear were burned away. She felt how there was damage to his vision. It was impressive that the burn wasn’t worse.

Being this close, Katara then noticed it – she felt it right there within the scar tissue. Her hand was smaller, but – she saw the handprint.

This wasn’t an accident, was it?

Katara didn’t say anything, afraid that if she did, Zuko’s walls would go right back up accompanied by an insult. A part of her wished that she could do more. Her healing skills still needed work.

When she was done, Katara pulled back.

Zuko opened his eyes and frowned.

“Is something wrong?” Katara asked, concerned. Had she done something?

“Um, can you – hold your hand here?” Zuko took her right hand and held it up by his face. “Hold up any number of fingers. Please.”

She complied.

“…Four?” he said after a few seconds.

“Three, actually.”

Zuko didn’t seem to care that he’d been wrong. “The fact that I could even see that much, is…”

He was looking at her – his expression changed.

It was so subtle, that if Katara hadn’t been sitting as close as she was, she surely would have missed it.

“…Incredible.”

Katara stared at Zuko. The way the firelight caught in his eyes. Being this close, she realized his eyes weren’t just plain golden yellow. There different shades of gold and flecks of brown.

“Thank you, Katara.”

Was it her imagination, or did her name sound different when he’d said it just then?

He was looking at her – heat slowly pooled into her belly. What was –

Katara quickly stood up. “Well! Look how late it is! We should get to bed. Got an early start and a long day tomorrow! Ha, ha, ha!”

What was so funny? Absolutely nothing was funny.

Katara needed to walk away. She needed to – so why was she disappointed with herself when she did? Why did she regret it?

===

When Katara had her hand on his face, he couldn’t really feel it. There was certainly a pressure, of sorts. His face felt numb when she ran her fingers across the scar.

Then she offered to heal it.

How many chances would he have for that to happen, ever again in his life? He hesitated taking the chance, and he hated that he couldn’t just accept it. Why’d he hesitate on it?

But then Katara offered to heal what she could without the Spirit Water. He didn’t think she could do much, but he took her up on that offer.

The edges of his vision was still blurry, but he could make out far more than he’d been able to in years.

It didn’t matter that he’d guessed four instead of three.

He sat looking at Katara. The way even with the moonlight that was available shown on her darker skin from above; and the way the firelight caught her eyes from below. It was an ethereal contrast.

“…Incredible.”

He wasn’t talking about the quality of his vision.

She was looking at him –

“Thank you, Katara.”

He said her name with a certain reverence he wasn’t sure how he could even begin to explain to her – wondering how he’d even show her if given the chance.

Katara suddenly jumped up, rambling.

Disappointment weighed down on Zuko as he watched her leave. He didn’t know why he should have been disappointed in the first place. It wasn’t like Katara had given any indications. That was probably why she left the way she did.

Zuko gave Katara a few extra minutes on account of privacy before entering the tent.

He laid down with his back to her.

Zuko was surprised when he felt Katara press herself against him.

He sighed quietly and closed his eyes, taking what little he could.

===

Katara shouldn’t be doing this. She didn’t know why she was doing this. But – she pressed herself up against Zuko. She pressed her forehead into his back. He was so warm. She almost wanted to reach around and take his hand so she could get even closer.

But she didn’t.

===

Much to the relief of Lia and Bao, Zuko and Katara weren’t fighting anymore. But now, it was…the two were being so awkward and ridiculous around each other.

Zuko kept scowling at things like they had personally offended him, but was staring at Katara with a perplexed expression. He quickly looked away whenever Katara glanced in his general direction.

Katara kept messing with her hair and rambled. Kept straightening her clothes when she didn’t need to. Kept staring at Zuko when he wasn’t looking, and busying herself when he glanced her way.

Ah. Young love.

====

There was a port that was well-hidden, far from Fire Nation eyes.

“We uh, should probably hold hands.” Zuko said. “So we don’t get separated.”

“Good idea. Wouldn’t want to get lost.” Katara agreed, gripping Zuko’s hand. It felt especially warm. Her cheeks even more so.

There were also lines upon lines of people. All smelly, dirty, and exhausted. Children were crying. People were sitting off to the side, begging. Many were sick. Katara could hear it in the wheezing coughs.

Her heart went out to these people, and in this case…she couldn’t help them. They all obviously were hoping for a new life. But in order to get there, they had to be subjected to all this. Taking chances that weren’t always a guarantee.

They were forced to stand in line for hours.

At least there were vendors walking along the line selling people food.

Zuko bought them both a little something.

He was about to take a bite when a small boy and girl were both looking up at them – at the food. They looked hollow.

Somehow, it was through a silent communication that she and Zuko both split the food between themselves and the two kids. It was quick and subtle.

The food was okay. It could have been worse.

But at least it was something.

Katara saw a flash of orange.

“Aang?”

He kept running.

“Aang, wait!”

“Katara!” Zuko called after her.

“I’ll be right back! Hold my spot!” she called over her shoulder.

She called after him again, but he didn’t stop. Why wasn’t he responding to her?

Katara finally caught up and reached for Aang.

“Aang! I’m so glad that…”

It wasn’t him.

How…?

Looking at it now, he was too tall, and his clothing was all off. It was all dirty, and the wrong shades; being darker orange and faded reds and browns that probably used to be a bright yellow. She realized then how desperately she missed Sokka and her friends, that she so easily mistook someone else for Aang when it should have been blatantly obvious.

“There he is!” someone shouted.

“Look at what you did, stupid lady!” the kid yelled, shoving her away and running, with several guards giving pursuit.

“Let me go! Let me go!” the boy screamed and thrashed and the guards wrestled with him and threw him to the ground, handcuffing him.

“Katara! Katara! We need to go!”

Katara hurried back to Zuko.

The line was moving, and Zuko had to grab her arm and pull her to him.

She could only shake her head once she was settled next to him.

“It was a fake…why would someone fake being the Avatar?”

It was near-blasphemous to do such things, wasn’t it?

“It comes with extra perks if you can get away with it.” Zuko replied, sounding almost bitter. “I’ve met my fair share.”

He didn’t need to explain what he meant.

---

They finally got passed the gates, being shuffled in like cattle packed into a tin.

There was a commotion by the booths where there were people were checking passports.

Someone was screaming about cabbages.

Katara squinted, and saw orange – and flashes of green, yellow and maybe blue, could it be? But there were far too many people, and the line was moving, and Katara had to keep up.

Anyways, seeing Aang here with the others was actually ridiculous now that she thought of it. It had to be yet another fake. It was appalling that people actually took advantage of others’ hopes like that.

Unlike the fake Avatars, her friends had Appa. Appa could just fly them over the walls to the Earth King’s palace.

---

The ship sailed slowly.

The smells of body odor and bodily fluids intermingled with rotten food and the unpleasant stench of the ocean when shellfish are simply left to go bad. Katara usually loved the ocean, its feel, and its smells. But here, she was seeing the worst side of it.

“Katara?”

She knew that voice.

She turned.

Of all the people Katara never wanted to see again, it just had to be Jet.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, as if he had any right to be curious.

Zuko looked at him curiously.

Jet seemed…Katara didn’t like how Jet seemed to be evaluating Zuko.

“This is my husband, Li.” Katara said, noticing how Jet, Smellerbee and even Longshot’s eyes seemed to bug out of their heads.

“You’re married now?!” Smellerbee nearly screeched.

Katara nodded, holding up her hand. She turned to Zuko, “Dear, this is Jet and his friends. They lied to me and tricked me into flooding a Fire Nation-occupied village.”

She continued, even as Jet tried to protest, saying something about how he needed to explain. Katara ignored him. “Thankfully, Sokka helped clear out the village before anyone died. I think he should have stayed stuck on that tree I froze him to.” Katara turned to Jet, glaring. A thin layer of frost slowly formed around them. “Leave us alone. If you try to talk to me, or Li – any of you try anything – you’ll have the very unfortunate accident of falling overboard.”

Jet nodded, wisely backing off.

Katara gripped Zuko’s arm and pulled him away.

“You alright?” Zuko asked, once they a good distance away.

Katara shrugged. “I trusted him. But he manipulated and lied to me – used me.” She looked up at Zuko. “I almost killed people – would have, if Sokka hadn’t warned the villagers – if an old man Sokka helped earlier hadn’t been there to back up Sokka.”

She didn’t go into details about how Jet had been her first real kiss, it stung, but that didn’t matter.

“I told him about my mother, and he used that – used her.”

That sting of betrayal was far worse. Even as Katara yelled at him for what he’d potentially made her do, Jet still shouted back how the Fire Nation had killed her mother, so he was just doing Katara a favor, why wasn’t she more grateful?

“I’m sorry.” Zuko muttered. “He sounds like an ass.”

Katara laughed, purposefully bumping shoulders with Zuko. “Definitely. I can’t believe I had my first real kiss with him, too.”

Zuko balked. “With him?!”

Katara blushed. “Yeah, well…I liked yours better.”

“Oh.”

Zuko turned away with a pensive expression on his face.

Katara leaned against Zuko. Honestly…she liked Zuko’s kiss much better.

---

They disembarked by mid-afternoon of the next day.

A woman named Joo-Dee had a too-wide smile as she spoke, telling everyone that they maintained perfect order. Perfect order meant happiness for all. Happiness for all meant peace. Peace meant that no one had to worry. It went on and on, and was starting to get creepy.

Even Zuko looked concerned.

“Remember! There’s no war in Ba Sing Se!”

The city was already crowded. Katara caught sight of Jet and his friends being sent off in a completely different direction to be sorted in another district.

Good.

Ba Sing Se was supposed to be a city of dreams. That was what everyone said. But they were on the outside looking in with rose-colored glasses.

But those glasses were ripped away in a matter of moments once they were inside.

It was a city of squalor.

People were just taken to the city, dumbed there, and expected to fend for themselves. If they were rich, then there wasn’t anything to worry about.

Fortunately, they had enough money to rent a small apartment.

Katara jolted, and Zuko visibly shivered as a few cockroach-rats scurried into nooks and crannies when they entered their room.

“Well…home, sweet home!” Katara said, forcing a smile.

There was a banging noise up above them, showing just how thin the walls were. Followed by yelling. Somewhere else up above them there was thumping, like a small child was running around or something.

Zuko made a face. He spoke like he was trying to be optimistic. “It could always be worse. We could be listening to people have sex.”

===

That night, as Zuko and Katara laid there, they heard a noise next door.

It was sort of quiet, but repeated. A soft moan followed. Another person groaned. This was repeated off and on for several hours.

The woman next door apparently had nightly visits from clients.

It was uncomfortable to a whole new extreme.

“You just had to say something, didn’t you?” Katara muttered, though he could hear the amused smile in her voice.

Chapter Text

They laid awake for several hours, because how was anyone supposed to sleep while they listened to their next-door neighbor making all those…erm, intimate noises? There were also several unidentifiable sounds that seemed to come from the building itself; like fluttering and scratching as if the building itself were alive.

There were various other noises outside, which sounded like people. There was an occasional shout, like maybe people were fighting and arguing; but none of it sounded like anything they needed to be concerned about.

Neither of them said anything.

Katara thought that maybe there were times that Zuko stiffened up when they could hear people. She pressed herself closer to him, and no, her face did not burn when his arm came around her and she could feel him pressing her closer. A part of her panicked that Zuko could sense her body heat and feel her heartbeat because it was thundering in her ears.

She had a somewhat difficult time sleeping, and she envied Zuko when she could hear him snoring softly. She blamed the Moon for keeping her awake, even though it wasn’t particularly full.

Katara finally managed to fall asleep.

---

The next day, Katara wondered if Zuko hadn’t gotten that much rest because he seemed annoyed.

They wordlessly prepared breakfast. Zuko simply helped, not saying anything.

A sort of silent agreement passed between them that they would not mention their neighbor at all.

As they ate their meager meal, she carefully watched Zuko – not for any reason in particular. Just…she appreciated his help. Yeah. That was it. Sokka and Aang never really helped unless she somehow managed to coerce them into it – and the last time with Toph – that hadn’t gone very well when Katara was just trying to include her.

But Zuko was open to learning from her and was willing to help her without being strongarmed into it.  

So. Here Katara was watching Zuko eat. Nothing too weird about that, right? She was sitting across from him, after all.

She could just watch and – for some Tui-and-Yue forsaken reason her stomach was slowly entangling itself in knots as she watched him.

 She admired how the sunlight filtered through the shutters, catching against his eyes and the sharp angles of his face – and in a way that made his scar stand out – but in a good way? A part of her wanted to touch it – run her fingers through his hair for no reason other than – gaahhhh!

She forced herself to focus and not zone out when she realized that Zuko was looking at her – at her – while she was looking at him – had he caught her – his expression was all weird and wasn’t his usual scowl – it was that expression he’d given her after she healed what she could of his scar.

Katara slammed her bowl down onto the table – causing Zuko to jolt.

“No, I wasn’t!” Zuko quickly denied with a weird yelp – like his voice cracked or something.

Meanwhile, Katara slapped her cheeks, much harder than was necessary. She had to focus! Not-not admire stupid Zuko and his stupidly good-looking self. No-one had a right to look like that!

“You weren’t what?”

Zuko looked as if he were seriously considering lying but must have thought better of it.

“…Staring.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Was he staring at her? He was, right? Because it wasn’t like he was staring at her food – they had the exact same thing. Why would he be staring at her food? That didn’t make any sense! So – it was her – did she have something on her face?

“…I wasn’t staring either.” Katara said quietly, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. Her face was hot – though, it suddenly felt smoldering sitting here.

“So…plans for today.” Zuko said, his voice slightly cracking awkwardly again.

“Get a job,” Katara held up a finger as she listed what they needed to do that day. “Visit one of those Ba Sing Se offices so we-I can write a letter to the Earth King and hopefully that is how I’ll be able to meet my friends.”

She hoped Zuko didn’t notice her near slipup.

“Have you thought any more about coming with me?”

Surely, Zuko wouldn’t want to stay in all of this, right?

“…Not really.” Zuko shrugged, not looking at her. “It’s just…a lot. Complicated.”

She was silent for a few minutes, before finally deciding to speak up.

“…What’s so complicated about it?”

Katara was careful to keep her voice neutral, trying to avoid any chance of sounding like she was whining – or even hurt – but she couldn’t really name why she would feel hurt by Zuko’s indecisiveness. His coming with her hadn’t been part of their original deal anyway.

Zuko sighed and put his bowl and chopsticks down.

“Look. I – I’m not the best at explaining this sort of thing. But – we – I was taught that the Avatar is – pretty much the ultimate evil.”

Katara was ready to protest right then and there – but she stayed quiet.

“Katara. People who simply speak up – openly disagree with the Fire Lord…” Katara noticed how his fingers brushed up against his scar before dropping into his lap. “I – I was lucky that I was just banished. Sometimes people would disappear – or maybe they’d be publicly executed. I’ve heard rumors. And Uncle told me a little about it.”

Zuko physically cringed – though, it seemed to be about something he was thinking.

Katara remembered the shape of a hand on Zuko’s scar, and how terrifyingly controlled of a burn it was.

Zuko shifted, looking uncomfortable.

“…That’s no way to live. People shouldn’t have to live in that kind of fear. My dad – the other Chiefs, they want people to be able to call them out without fear. It’s encouraged in fact. If the disagreement is justified, then--”

“Yeah, well. Not everyone has that luxury.” Zuko said near-harshly. He cringed and wouldn’t look at her. “You uh, you done? I can do the dishes real quick.”

He seemed to be looking for a distraction, and Katara let him have it. It was too early in the day to argue – and this probably wasn’t an argument they should have in the first place.

Katara couldn’t wrap her mind around it; how could people stand to live in such fear of one man? Fear speaking out when things were so wrong and unfair?

Zuko clearing his throat brought her attention to him.

“What?”

“Your uh, your bowl.” Zuko motioned to it.

“Oh! Sorry…” Katara mentally slapped herself for spacing out in the middle of a conversation. “Yeah, we have places to be today. Might as well get a move on.”

Now Katara cringed at the words she had said. They sounded so off and not like her at all.

Zuko didn’t respond at all. He seemed deep in thought.

When Zuko was done, Katara for no rational reason she could think of other than she wanted to – put her hand on Zuko’s shoulder.

“Thanks. For helping.”

Zuko nodded.

She followed him out the door. Zuko locked the simple door. Not much could actually hold a person back from simply bursting in. It made the lock seem kind of pointless. Maybe it just offered a false sense of security. Maybe it was just to help keep the door shut.

They started walking towards their destination, and Katara spoke up,

“Hey, Z-Li?”

Zuko turned to her questioningly.

“Do you think we should um, hold hands?” she slowly reached out expectantly because…this made sense, right? She honestly just wanted to hold his hand, nothing more. “We, um, are supposed to be m-married, right? That makes sense?”

Zuko’s brow went up as he looked down at her hand.

The following seconds that went by seemed to drag on for a painfully long amount of time.

Katara nearly pulled away, about to say that this was a dumb idea anyway when Zuko took her hand in his and began walking.

Zuko wasn’t looking at her as he muttered, “Yeah, wouldn’t want to get lost or separated…or something.”

His hand was so warm and big compared to hers. The size made her wonder how much more Zuko had to grow before his hands properly fit him. He would be tall, she figured.

Katara was on his left, so it was difficult to see his expression. But he looked as if he was scowling and glaring at anyone who dared look their way – and was it her imagination, or were Zuko’s cheeks tinted pink?

But he was also walking so stiffly, she almost made a soft jibe to tell him to loosen up. But she stayed quiet, enjoying the moment. Maybe she was making this out to be a bigger deal than it actually was. She refused to let her mind wander beyond what this was.

This whole thing was just pretend; a deal they made that benefitted them both, somehow.

She noticed how some people looked at them, and had expressions of warmth and amusement. Like they were noticing a new, happy couple.

They walked a bit farther.

“I’m sorry.” Zuko muttered.

“What?” Katara realized she had spaced out again. “Sorry for what?”

“Just…about earlier. You know.”

He didn’t specify what he was sorry for, but Katara knew.

She accepted it.

“It’s not a big deal. Sorry for pushing you…I guess…I have a hard time wrapping my mind around not being able to speak up.” She was quiet then carefully asked, “You don’t have to answer, but – did you speak up, once? Against-against him?”

The way Zuko stiffened up was answer enough.

Katara’s hand tightened around his, and she pressed closer.

“You don’t have to say.”

The sense of relief was palpable.

---

Katara would much rather the first priority of the day be looking for her friends, but unfortunately – she didn’t have the option of being able to look for them easily. She had no way to contact them even if they were in Ba Sing Se, and equally they had no idea she was even here.

What if they thought she was captured or even dead? Perhaps they had the same realization she’d had, and figured that if the Fire Nation had captured her they’d make it known in order to lead Aang and the others into a trap.

She was determined to get back to them.

So…getting a job.

Bao was able to connect them with someone he knew – though, it was more like he had a friend who knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy’s cousin whose friend needed workers, or something like that.

The place was a strange combo tea and noodle shop; and a rather run-down-looking one at that.

Panels of wood had been haphazardly added on, and way too many different shades of green and yellow paint had been used as repairs were made. The owner had probably just used whatever was available, so nothing matched.

“Pao’s Delectable Teas and Pastries” was crudely painted onto the sign. “And Yu’s noodles” was a freshly painted addition.

“This place has definitely seen better days,” Zuko muttered.

“It’s…eclectic?” Katara’s voice couldn’t help but keep the questioning tone out of it as she tried to be positive.

She and Zuko entered the tea shop. The tables and chairs were mismatched and had the look of someone using several home repair methods. At least Pao wasn’t throwing anything away…though a few chairs made Katara feel concerned if they could even hold her weight.

There was an open kitchen where a man was cooking noodles and a few other foods.

A guy who looked to be older than Zuko by just a few years was standing behind the counter. Dark skin, dark hair, and gray-green eyes; wearing clothes that were clearly meant for a man much larger than he was.

She and Zuko walked up to the counter to wait behind a woman who was arguing with the guy behind the counter.

He looked absolutely bored as a woman was complaining about how terrible her food had been. She listed out her complaints of how it was terribly cooked and terribly seasoned, and the tea was flavorless.

The guy sent her a very judgmental look. “…But you ate all of it.”

“But I shouldn’t have to pay for such terrible service!” the woman argued. “Do you have any idea who I am? I’m an important customer!”

“…Ma’am.” The guy behind the counter didn’t look impressed. “You ate the food and drank all the tea we brought to your table. And you’re complaining now that you have to pay for it?”

“I have never been treated so terribly!” she huffed.

“Ma’am. If you’re as important as you say you are, clearly you can afford to pay for the meal.”

Katara and Zuko observed the exchange silently. Though, Zuko muttered to Katara under his breath, “It’s way too early in the morning for this.”

It wasn’t always like this, was it? She hoped not.

“Do you have any idea how much I spend here?!” the woman’s voice got loud and shrill, causing both Katara and Zuko to wince. “Surely you can make an exception this one time! Don’t you know how much business I’ve brought into this place?!”

The young man clearly bit back a sarcastic response. Katara recognized the same expression as she had seen it on Sokka during exchanges with their parents and Gran-Gran.

“The way I see it, you owe me!”

His attempt to hold back the sarcasm failed when he responded with, “Yes, it’s solely through your patronage over the past three months that this shop has stayed afloat for over fifteen years.”

The woman turned a lovely shade of puce. She loudly harrumphed and slammed down several coins before loudly announcing that she wasn’t coming back.

“Thank you.”

She “harumphed” even louder and left.

He quickly sorted the money before turning to them.

“Welcome to Pao and Yu’s. How can I help you?”

“Hi, I’m Katara and this is Li.”

“We’re here about the job opening?”

The guy quirked an eyebrow at their hands before looking up at their faces. “Great. You’re hired. Just don’t do anything gross in the backroom with the food. The public doesn’t need to have a taste of your bodily fluids.”

That caused both Katara and Zuko to wrench away from each other.

“Absolutely not!” Katara shot back.

“Don’t be disgusting!” Zuko practically snarled.

“Glad we agree on something. Come on back, I’ll give you your aprons.”

---

His name was Toseu, and Pao was his uncle, and Yu was the business partner.

Toseu explained that Pao and Yu used to have separate establishments next door to each other before simply deciding to combine their business into one restaurant a few years ago to have more room and make more money.

It had been a surprisingly successful venture.

That explained why the outside looked the way it did.

Pao was a better host and manager than he was a tea maker. That task was giving to Toseu.

Toseu had them make tea.

Katara’s was really good.

Zuko’s was promptly thrown out, with Toseu saying that the customers would accuse them of trying to poison people if they drank it.

Zuko seriously looked as if he were going to snap back. But he kept himself composed.

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter.” Toseu said. “Everyone works more than one role, anyway. You’ll both be taking orders when it gets busy. And Yu will probably show you both how to cook our noodle recipes.”

He handed them both small order pads.

===

Yu reminded Zuko of Uncle. He was on the edge of going gray and had crow’s feet.

Where Uncle was a master of brewing tea, Yu was a master of making noodles.

Uncle more than likely would have had a proverb about brewing tea, and Zuko found himself missing it, even though he’d always gotten so frustrated.

Yu was blunt, and didn’t go through the steps of making noodles as if he were preparing for a sacred ritual.

He showed them how to knead the dough, roll it flat and slice it. He went through the steps quickly, but slowly.

“You want the water boiling like this – when you reach this step here, count like this: ‘one trip to the upper ring, two trips to the upper ring…’ count up to fifteen, and turn this down like that…” he held up the cooked noodles with a pair of long chopsticks. “Look at these, this is how they’re supposed to look once cooked. You don’t want them mushy or too firm…”

He first prepared a bowl, and then had Zuko and Katara follow the steps.

He didn’t leer over them, and firmly but gently corrected as he stood back and watched with his arms crossed.

When they were done, and Zuko tasted what he’d made – he was genuinely surprised that the noodles were actually good. They didn’t have everything to make the noodles more flavorful like Zuko had back on the Wani. It was simple, but still delicious.

“Good job,” Yu praised with practicality. “You’ll get used to the speed pretty quickly. I’ll show you how to make more as we go along.”

The taste almost turned sour, because if Zuko were here long enough that he could cook noodles with the same speed and efficiency as Yu did; that meant never getting out of this place. He’d never go back to the Fire Nation.

Azula’s voice scraped across the back of his mind, “Maybe you’ll find a nice Earth Kingdom family to adopt you.”

It was pretty much the same as being taken in by a guy who was a master of making noodles who reminded Zuko too much of Uncle.

He breathed in and out, and quickly finished his noodles, not really being able to taste the rest of it.

---

Over the course of the next week, Zuko and Katara didn’t have a chance to go to the district office so she could try to contact her friends. They were kept busy by their job, and all too often the office was closed by the time they got off of work.

Zuko grimaced and composed himself as people were overly demanding of what they wanted. He swore that more and more of his soul was slowly leaving his body as a response to some of these people’s ridiculous demands.

Someone was angry that their tea was “too hot.”

Another complained that their noodles were “too spicy” when they ordered something that was spicy.

Someone else argued that the lavender tea was the wrong color.

“Lavender isn’t this gross yellow color! I’ve seen the plant! It’s purple!”

More than once, his patience had been severely tested. He deserved to be commended for not snapping and stabbing someone.

There were some people who tried flirting with him, though he couldn’t exactly figure out why. Zuko purposefully used his left hand to subtly show off the ring on his finger to indicate that he was off-limits.

When a woman asked what he was doing after work, Zuko replied, “Going home with my wife.”

But still, Zuko ignored the suggestive comments and responded very literally. Because he sometimes didn’t always understand sarcasm or euphemisms, many comments did go over his head.

He noticed a few people flirt with Katara; and for reasons he couldn’t properly explain there was a hot twinge twisting in his belly. Like he was angry at them for flirting – almost at her for being flirted with… But that didn’t make any sense. Why did it even matter? Zuko wondered why he even cared that Katara was being flirted with. It didn’t affect him in anyway whatsoever.

But Katara was doing the same thing as he was: purposefully using her left hand.

Zuko was helping Yu prepare several noodle dishes.

There was a loud group of men at a table, and they were loudly saying things about Katara that made the fire in Zuko’s belly boil. They were crude, and clearly trying to goad a reaction out of her.

He didn’t know why it bothered him so much – no-one should be saying such horrible things. He was seriously considering fighting them consequences be damned when Katara purposefully walked up to him and leaned in close.

His heart thundered in his ears over the din of the restaurant as she leaned into his right, whispering. Her breath tickled his ear.

“Can I…can we pretend to be talking about something?”

Right. This was all pretend. Somehow, he was disappointed at that reminder. He shouldn’t be thinking it was anything else – or was Katara taking this as seriously as he was probably starting to? She’d wanted it to mean something more, didn’t she?

(She’d said something about it a week or so ago, hadn’t she? But then she’d literally just said that this was pretend.)

There was no need to feel like this (whatever this was) while also being angry on her behalf.

“…Sure.”

Katara smiled up at him and leaned in closer.

“Thanks, Zuko.”

He watched her leave, and the rowdy men were quiet and looking towards him. Zuko just nodded and continued cooking.

He reminded himself that he was just here because he had nowhere else to go. Katara would be going back to her friends (and the Avatar). And Zuko would just go on being “Li the refugee” and working at this tea and noodle shop until…

Zuko shoved those thoughts aside and focused on the task at hand.

===

Katara hurried as they were in the middle of an afternoon rush. While most of the customers were polite, there were quite a few who were rude.

Those were easy enough to placate.

When Katara first started, some men, many of which were her father’s age and some older, said things so inappropriate it took all of Katara’s self-control to not water-whip them until they were completely covered in painful welts. She found that most of the time she could get out of guys and men flirting with her by simply flashing her ring and going up to Zuko and acting like she was telling him something private. A part of her used it as an excuse because she liked the way Zuko looked when she touched his scar. Having the excuse to kiss him even on the cheek made fluttery hot feelings rise in her stomach.

Thankfully, it quickly became clear that she and Zuko were “married”, and the comments stopped (most of the time). Even so, there didn’t need to be a comment or anything for Katara to find herself simply giving Zuko a quick kiss on the cheek. She walked away knowing she had a stupid smile on her face. She couldn’t exactly say why this was so nice.

Things were easy.

---

Normally, Katara loved kids. She’d helped raise many of them in the South.

But today…

There was a group of four boys running around. One nearly ran into Zuko, while Zuko was carrying hot tea and noodles. Luckily, Zuko managed to not spill the tray over himself or the boy with some impressive balancing skills.

Pao was preparing several orders of tea, and Yu was busy making noodles. Toseu was going between preparing and serving food. He was glaring at the mother who wasn’t saying anything as she focused on the one boy who wasn’t running around like a feral pygmy-monkey; only because he was in a highchair.

Toseu looked as if he was seriously considering tossing the mother out since she wasn’t bothering to control her kids. He was someone who didn’t care about arguing with and insulting unpleasant customers. The only reason he was holding back this time was because Pao probably asked him to be nice, or something.

Katara was rushing to the kitchen when she nearly tripped over one of the boys who was rolling around on the floor.

She dropped several dishes, and she winced as they broke.

When she bent down to start cleaning up, she bumped heads with Zuko.

They both were apologetic with a few quick words.

Zuko helped her clean up what he could, and Katara used her bending to get the fluids.

Now Toseu was marching over to the woman. He didn’t get very far, though.

Another customer, an older woman was now shouting, “You should have your kids taken away!”

“What is that supposed to mean?!”

“What do you think?! They’re disturbing everybody in here! You should be reported to the authorities!” the other woman yelled. “I am a deputy in the local district! Someone give me her info!”

Now the women started cursing and spewing very colorful insults at each other. Stuff about one being an old hag and one learning to keep her legs closed.

Both Katara and Zuko stared, fascinated by the spectacle. As was everyone else. The entire restaurant stopped eating and pretended to not pay attention.

“You shouldn’t have had all those kids if you don’t know how to control them!”

“You should mind your own business!”

The two women were getting increasingly louder as they yelled.

Katara could hear a few of the customers closest to her talking amongst themselves.

“Are they going to fight?” one of the customers asked in a disbelieving way.

“Maybe someone should get the guards…” another said with understandable concern.

Toseu stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly, getting their attention.

“Both of you, enough!” Toseu demanded. “OUT! You’re disturbing our other customers!”

The two women looked ready to argue with him, now.

They each barely got two words out when Toseu said, “I don’t care! You need to pay and leave!”

The older woman slammed down her money onto the table and marched out with a loud huff.

The mother was red-faced. Whether in anger or embarrassment (likely both) she put down money, gathered her things, wrangled her children, and they left.

The restaurant was suddenly calm for several seconds. Katara was honestly holding her breath, listening for screaming and shouting coming from outside. She thought that someone really would have to summon the guards.

A few more seconds passed before everyone began laughing awkwardly. And everyone’s discussions were more than likely about the crazy scene that just unfolded in front of them.

“You’re red.”

Katara looked at Zuko. Her face was definitely burning in embarrassment.

“I just…never heard people talk like that, before…exactly.”

“It was actually pretty tame compared to what I heard on my ship.” Zuko muttered. He smiled, just a little. “The crew probably would have enjoyed watching that.”

===

They finally had a day off, so Zuko and Katara went to their district’s government office so she could hopefully send word to her friends.

There was a line that circled around the building and down the street. How many people were there? And they thought that they had come early enough in the day!

They had to get in line just so they could get a number just so they could get into another line. What was with Ba Sing Se and having people in lines all the time?

The woman in the kiosk looked just as tired as everyone as even as she smiled.

“Don’t lose your number now!” she spoke in a very upbeat manner. “You will be seen in the order you have arrived! If the office closes before you can be seen, just come back and show us your number and you will be moved to the front of the line!”

Katara shook her head and massaged her temples.

Zuko thought that they were going to be here forever.

While it certainly did take a while, the line actually moved at a fairly decent pace. A few people selling food walked up and down the line. They ended up buying a small meal and sharing it.

In these situations, it was typical that strangers began started conversing with each other.

Katara did most of the talking, and Zuko listened. He answered a question when he had to and was polite. He asked questions here and there – but there was a disturbing trend he started to notice with all these people: they were all looking for relatives who had inexplicably gone missing after coming to Ba Sing Se.

There were plenty of men and several women who were simply gone.

People talked about their worries in hushed whispers as if the ground and walls had eyes and ears and would suck them in if they dared to speak too loudly.

“My neighbors say that the Dai-Li took them,” someone said so quietly that Zuko strained to hear. “Says that they can take people who won’t be missed.”

“We’re in the outer ring,” a woman said bitterly. “We have as many rights as a hen-pig in a butcher’s next up for slaughter.”

Others shushed her, and she begrudgingly did so.

Katara looked concerned as she listened.

It took several hours before they were finally within view of the office entrance.

A part of Zuko was legitimately worried they’d reach the entrance only to be turned away because it was closed, and they’d have to come back and repeat the process.

There were people going in, and absolutely none of them looked happy as they walked out.

They finally managed to reach the front of the line, and they had to wait outside the small office so that the current customer inside would have their privacy.

Zuko and Katara were finally called on by another exhausted-looking woman who had several guards standing around her. Likely to keep people in check.

The man behind the counter had a too-wide smile on his face as if wires and pins held it in place.

“Good afternoon, folks!” he greeted way too enthusiastically. “How may I help you today?”

Katara explained her problem; she had gotten separated from her friends, and they had no idea where she was. They were more than likely going to see the Earth King. Was there any way she could send letters to the Earth King; one for him and one for her friends?

“It’s the only possible way I can think of to reach them.”

“Of course!” the man said brightly and presented Katara with a few scrolls, an inkwell and a pen. “Write your message down here.”

He tilted his head sort of like a creepy, Human puppet.

“You said it was important, and needed to be addressed to the Earth King, correct?”

“Yes! Thank you!” Katara sounded so happy and relieved.

He pulled out a green ribbon and tied around the scrolls containing Katara’s letters.

He poured wax onto the ribbon and pressed a seal into it.

“It will be sorted by priority and sent out in the order in which it was received.”

He pushed the letter into a tube behind him.

“What?” Katara’s voice sounded hollow.

“You aren’t the only one who has wanted to contact the Earth King I’m afraid,” the man said with that infuriating smile on his face. He spoke to Katara as if he were speaking to a child. “He’s a busy, busy man! He takes care of his citizens. If the Earth King took care of every single little problem and complaint that people brought to him, he’d never get anything done!”

The man laughed like he’d just told a joke.

“But this – this is important!” Katara said, desperation lacing her tone. “The people I’m trying to find – one of them is the Avatar. They’re likely to come here to meet the Earth King and ask for help fighting the war-!”

“Ah, ah!” the man said, waggling his finger. “Remember: there’s no war in Ba Sing Se, young miss. Now, your message will be sent out in the order in which it was received!”

Katara’s hand slammed down onto the counter in anger. She looked ready to throttle the man as her voice raised. She wasn’t yelling, but she was very near it

“I’m trying to find my friends – my family – and this concerns the – you-know-what and you would actually get in the way of that?” Her voice cracked with emotion, and her eyes looked ready to spill tears yet were on fire. She clearly fought to remain composed. “I understand priority, I do. But this really is serious. The only way I can feasibly contact my friends is through the Earth King.”

“Apologies, ma’am. I can’t make an exception for you just because you asked. Arguing will not help you.”

He spoke in that far-too-upbeat tone that grated on Zuko’s ears.

“Everyone has been coming here looking for people – it’s unfortunate, but sometimes families get split up when coming to this great city. Accidents can happen, you know.”

He chuckled. “You aren’t the first one to claim needing to speak to the Earth King. I would highly recommend that you accept the fact that you must wait just like everyone else. Fair warning; arguing and being all around disruptive runs the risk of your request being backlogged.”

“People are desperate, and you would hold something like this over them? You would actually do that? Why is everyone being placed on a waiting list to be found? What about their families?! Do you have any idea how worried they are? How can you be so cruel?!”

“Miss! I’m just doing my job…” the man said feebly, still with that damned smile on his face that never dropped even once.

“Your job?!” Katara looked furious. “Well, you certainly aren’t very good at it if this is what everyone has to deal with! This is clearly a broken system! Why hasn’t anyone tried to fix it?”

As he watched, Katara was so intense it was near terrifying. There was a not painful, but wonderful tightness in his chest; a fluttering in his stomach; and his thoughts drifted to how amazing Katara looked at that moment.

At this point, Zuko probably would have let her wring smiley-guy’s neck and then offered to burn the body to help hide the evidence.

He probably shouldn’t be feeling like this, and his mind really should be focusing on the situation itself and not how Katara was so (distracting) impressive.

Zuko glanced outside, noting the guards. They didn’t exactly have an escape plan; even if it was just Katara justifiably releasing all her frustration on this man who wouldn’t help because he didn’t have to care.

He looked through the curtains that separated the backroom from the lobby they were standing in. The curtains were cracked open just enough that Zuko could see shelves lined with scrolls. How long had those been there? When exactly were the people waiting to hear news of lost loved ones going to be a priority?

Zuko thought of Mother, of Uncle – of the people waiting in line searching for lost loved ones and the pain of not knowing. Honestly, even if Mother and Uncle were both dead, Zuko would feel better seeing their bodies. It would hurt, but at least he could have the comfort of knowing.

He heard the painful desperation in Katara’s voice. How long had she been hiding it behind her smile when she talked about hope and how everything would be okay if she could just get into contact with her friends again? How had he not noticed until now?

He’d mostly been focused on his own problems at this point.

“And another thing!” Katara was pointing at the man but looked as if she wanted to jab her finger into his chest. “You shouldn’t just casually disregard people like they don’t matter!”

To see all that being crushed…

“Ma’am, you need to calm down,” the man said, still with that upbeat tone.

“I am calm!” Katara shot back. “Do you want to see me angry, because I will be happy to show you!”

“Ma’am, I know you’re upset, but my hands are tied.”

That stupid man and his stupid smile and his stupid unhelpfulness.

Now Zuko found himself standing next to Katara – he wasn’t thinking things through, and certainly Uncle would have an opinion and a proverb that somehow applied to this absurd situation. But right now –

“She hasn’t seen her brother or friends in weeks! Why are you insistently not being helpful? Why do we have to practically perform gymnastic to get anything done? There are people out there who have been waiting for hours, some even days desperately looking for their loved ones and you just toss their reports away like they’re nothing?! Do you get some sick enjoyment holding this over them?”

“Sir, please no yelling. That doesn’t help anyone.”

“I’m not yelling!”

How could this idiot act like he was the one being given the runaround?

Okay. Maybe he was yelling. Zuko was pretty good at yelling about things. “Why aren’t missing people a higher priority? Even the least of a country’s citizens should know that they are safe and cared for! They shouldn’t have to worry about their loved ones! What the hell is the Earth King so busy with? A king is supposed to care about his people!”

“I’m sure you know all about being a King,” the man’s upbeat tone that didn’t change but still managed to seep heavy sarcasm.

Now Zuko wanted to punch that smile off the guy’s face.

“Everything alright in here?”

Both Zuko and Katara turned around to see a guard, with another flanking him.

“It’s fine.” Katara spat out.

“Thank you for your help.” Zuko said with a derisive tone.

Both left, angry, and frustrated for their own reasons.

They passed people on the street who saw them leave the office and gave them pitying looks as if they had the same experience and understood.

They finally stopped walking after several blocks.

“I can’t believe that! I just can’t believe that!” Katara was clenching and unclenching her hands, and she looked ready to bend something, or freeze it. “Did you hear him? Did you hear that-that dangly piece of snow-leopard-moose-dung, utter excuse for a human being…!”

“It’s all bureaucratic nonsense.” Zuko replied.

“What?” Katara turned to him; clearly still upset but looking far less angry. She looked more exhausted than anything else.

“It’s all a distraction…of sorts.” Zuko explained. “I’ve dealt with it…when I was…on the-on my ship.”

He grimaced. “Not a distraction, necessarily. But an inconvenience. They basically make it too much trouble with restrictions and extra steps with hurdles for people to get what they want or need, so the person eventually has to drop it. Unless you know some sort of loophole or someone higher up who is willing to help.”

Zuko helplessly shrugged. “I mean – look at us – at all those people. We don’t know what it’s like in the surrounding districts, and they could be dealing with the exact same thing: order of priority especially in which something is being sent in the order it was received? That likely means people in the Upper Rings are ahead of us. By the time they get to your letters, that could be months from now.”

Katara looked as if she wanted to cry.

Not being sure what he should do, Zuko awkwardly patted her shoulder.

“I’m sorry that you weren’t able to get into contact with your friends.”

Katara groaned. “I shouldn’t have had that outburst! Now my letter really will be shoved into the back of the line in some dusty cabinet until they finally bother to remember that it’s there!”

“…You were actually…pretty good?” Zuko said cringing at how he’d said it like a question. He wasn’t looking at Katara, but rather his hands. “I mean, it was good for a on-the-spot speech and definitely could have used some work, but it was nice, and I think you’d be really good at that sort of thing…I think you could definitely make people listen if they were willing to of course…and you were in a position to make the changes. But…”

Zuko realized that he had been rambling. He finally looked up at Katara who was staring at him. He winced. “S-sorry…”

“No, no…” Katara flipped a lock of hair, and smiled. “You could stand to sing my praises a little more often.”

She laughed and gripped his hands in hers.

“Li?”

Katara looked up at him.

“Did you mean it?”

She was so close.

“Um. Mean what?”

“All that stuff you said. About how even the least of people should know they’re cared for. How a king should care for his people.”

“Oh. That. I could have said it better, but it was too on-the-spot…” Zuko started rambling again. He mentally cursed the habit.

“Yeah. But did you mean it?”

Zuko thought of the 41^st, and how thoughtlessly people’s lives could be thrown away by the people who were supposed to care.

“…Yes.”

Katara’s hands squeezed his. She wasn’t looking at him, and her cheeks were dusted pink. “I think…that’s pretty admirable of you.”

Ozai would disagree – Zuko had the scar to prove it.

Katara looked up at him, her eyes looked especially blue.

“Let’s go home. I’m starving. You can cook this time.”

“Alright.”

===

Walking with Zuko like this, hand-in-hand, was all very domestic, Katara thought.

In another life, would they have been like this? If things were far less complicated.

She somehow always ended up on Zuko’s left – just because.

They got the ingredients they needed in order to make a simple yet decent meal.

They passed a woman sitting outside their apartment building.

She was wearing thick makeup in the typical Earth Kingdom fashion, with a loose bun in her hair. Her clothes were tied on loosely and came off of her shoulders. She was smoking a thin pipe, watching them as they approached.

“Evening,” she greeted in tired way. She had a sort of smirk on her face.

“Hello,” Katara greeted while Zuko ducked his head in a silent greeting.

The woman looked legitimately surprised to have her greeting returned.

Katara also noticed how…thin the woman looked because she could see her collarbone.

“Here.” Zuko handed her two of the sweet buns they’d just bought for cheap. “They’re a few days old, but still good.”

“…Thank you…” the woman said quietly, looking down at the ground. “You’re good kids.”

“Have a good night.” Katara said. She squeezed Zuko’s hand just a little and leaned in closer to him.

---

While Katara did help, Zuko did most of the cooking.

“You’ve gotten pretty good at that.” Katara commented. Zuko had actually gotten much better at making the noodles than she did.

“Yu’s a good teacher.” Zuko replied.

They were standing next to each other by their small stove. Their shoulders were practically touching.

“I’m so proud. You’ve come so far from burning our food to actually keeping it edible.” Katara smirked as she looked up at him.

“Yeah, well…I had no choice but to step up otherwise we’d be eating soggy noodles.”

“Shut up,” Katara bumped his shoulder with her own.

Zuko snorted – and smiled, just a little.

Katara suddenly found herself flustered because – she didn’t think she had ever seen Zuko smile like that, as small as it was.

She saw that he was looking at her – his expression was a strange and wonderful combination of that subtle smile and that look he’d been giving her since she did that healing on his scar.

Katara’s eyes went to Zuko’s lips.

She could just lean forward just a bit more…

Embarrassment and nervousness shot through her, and she quickly turned looking for a distraction. “I’ll set the table!”

Katara stumbled over a slightly uneven floorboard.

She would have fallen, except Zuko had caught her.

They remained in that position for several long seconds. Was it as long as it felt?

“What’re you doing?”

“Uh…making sure you don’t fall.”

“Um. Not falling.”

He pulled her up and made sure she could stand.

“Are you…okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Once dinner was ready, they ate in silence.

A part of Katara thought that maybe – maybe if they had been in another life, she could get used to this. She wondered if Zuko felt the same. But then she thought of a little over a week ago when she’d tried to have a conversation and he’d shut it down.

This was probably just wishful thinking.

She needed to be realistic.

They both had to be.

Chapter Text

It was a busy day at the tea-and-noodles restaurant – and Zuko and Katara were currently waiting tables.

One of Zuko’s tables had a few girls who were clearly from one of the Upper Rings. One of the things that annoyed him especially was how the people from the Upper Rings would come and pretty much treat the people living in the Outer Rings like their personal servants. Or they would come to gawk and laugh, and refugees were used as life-lessons for upper-class children.

Such as: “Look at where you could end up if you don’t work hard.”

And telling children to leave behind messes because that was what the waitstaff were for.

Zuko only rolled his eyes because this wasn’t something to get into an argument over. Katara had her eyes set on a future for greater things. Yu made delicious noodles. Poa’s tea may not have been as good as Uncle’s – but he was good at listening to people. Toseu was no-nonsense and very business-oriented and knew how to get things done.

Unless the customer was disruptive or refusing to pay, then there were just some things that the staff had to suck up.

Uncle would surely be proud for how many times Zuko had resisted snapping at someone.

Zuko was refilling their tea when one of the girls casually said, “You girls are lucky. You get to look at his good side.”

She snickered, and Zuko only paused for a few brief seconds. Although the hearing on his left was still somewhat muffled, he heard her far more clearly than he would have thanks to Katara’s healing session.

He forced himself to continue providing service so the girls would leave sooner rather than later.

Zuko tried not to care so much about a stranger’s opinion – people had said things before – but maybe it was different this time because she had clearly said it with pleased malice in her voice; he couldn’t exactly react without consequences, and he couldn’t leave.

The girls on his right simply shrugged and didn’t respond.

Zuko was briefly reminded of Azula with Ty-Lee and Mai.

“It certainly says a lot about the quality of an establishment if they let people like this show themselves in front of customers.”

That was – she was purposefully goading him, wanting a reaction.

She made yet another derogatory remark, and her friends laughed. It sounded far too much like -

He really was about to snap when Katara walked up with a purpose and leaned over the girl.

Katara’s voice was firm and laced with anger.

“No matter how fancy your clothes, or how much makeup you wear, you’ll never be able to hide it.”

“What? How dare-! Hide what?!” the girl spluttered.

“I think you know exactly what I’m talking about.” Katara nodded her head vaguely in the girl’s direction.

The girl obviously insulted, quickly paid and left – but spit out an insult about the restaurant and the people in it.

There was a lull as an uncomfortable and dangerous silence descended over the crowd; and people turned to look at her.

The girl squeaked and her friends quickly pulled her away. One even apologized.

An old woman walked up to Zuko and gripped his hand in her own, asking, “Are you okay, dear?”

“Y-yeah…” Zuko replied, which was mostly true.

“Don’t listen to her, alright? Upper Ring trollops have no class.” she stated bluntly. She laughed as she gently pinched his right cheek, “Your wife’s a lucky woman.”

The old woman laughed again, likely at Zuko’s bewildered expression – and she walked out the door with her friends.

Speaking of Katara – she was busying herself in the back with washing dishes.

Thankfully, their day continued as normal.

====

Katara furiously scrubbed at the dishes, a little harder than was necessary. A conflict of emotions raged through her.

First, she was pissed off because that girl said those things about Zuko – who was very handsome, and his scar just added to his face and suited him in a wonderful way and scars to that extent were marks of honor and she could just spend hours staring at Zuko’s face –

Stop – nope-nope-nope – those intrusive thoughts were making an already hot day far more sweltering.

Katara slapped herself trying to focus, and got dishwater all over her face. And then confusion set in – was Zuko mad about her interfering like that? Had she humiliated him, making people think that he couldn’t speak up for himself?

Maybe she should apologize?

But Zuko didn’t say anything the rest of their shift or as they left for home.

“I’m so—”

“Thanks, for earlier.”

Katara looked up at him. He wasn’t angry?

“Well – you didn’t deserve that – and – I really like your face, that stupid girl didn’t know what she was talking about.”

What? What?! Had she really said that out loud?!

The expression on Zuko’s face was confirmation that Katara had in fact told him – she resolutely didn’t look at Zuko as they walked to spare herself any further embarrassment.

---

It was just a few days later at the restaurant that as Katara was walking by a table when a man grabbed her arm and nearly pulled her off balance. It was a good thing that she didn’t spill boiling hot water over anyone – herself especially.

“I said we were ready to order!” he berated her. “We’ve been waiting for thirty minutes!”

Wrong – it was more like five.

Katara forced out a customer service smile to at least give him one chance. “Please let me go, sir.”

She knew Toseu wouldn’t get angry if she had to defend herself against a difficult customer.

The people with him at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

The man yanked at her again pulling her closer, and she nearly lost her balance. She most certainly would have bent very hot water at him, when Zuko grabbed her and steadied her and the tray she was carrying.

“You do realize that she has boiling water, right?” Zuko asked drily. “You could have an unfortunate accident.”

Zuko nodded in a way to indicate his scar – and the man let quickly Katara go.

Zuko was the one to take their orders so that Katara didn’t have to deal with them.

===

Later on, Zuko berated himself – he was such a – aagghhh! Stupid! Stupid! He smacked his forehead against the wall where he was out of view of everyone – and Katara – especially Katara.

That had been so – what had he been thinking?! Not much – he’d just witnessed some jerk grabbing her like that and he’d just – tried to act all – cool? Tough? Some kind of hero? Had that even been necessary? Katara likely had it all under control and he’d needlessly gotten involved--!

He smacked his forehead against the wall again.

“You okay?”

Zuko jolted violently, and nearly knocked a large wooden box of veggies down off of the nearby shelf.

He fumbled a few seconds before managing to shove it back into place without spilling everything everywhere.

Toseu didn’t look very impressed.

“Once you’re done having a breakdown, Yu needs you out front.”

“I’m not having a breakdown!”

Toseu just raised his brow.

“Fine.” Zuko bit out.

The scenario from earlier played over and over in his head sounding worse and worse and more cringeworthy every time he thought of it.

After work, Katara smiled, but didn’t really look at him. Why wasn’t she looking at him? Did it mean anything? Maybe she really was annoyed and angry, and he’d messed up somewhere –

Her voice cut through his racing thoughts.

“Thanks for helping me earlier.”

“You-you could have handled it yourself – you didn’t really need me to-to do anything.”

Katara shrugged. “It was nice I didn’t have to.”

===

Katara was abruptly woken up when the sounds of belligerent yelling and arguing tore through the thin walls of their apartment. She felt Zuko stiffen up next to her.

“Bitch! Whore! Get out here! You owe me!”

“Go away! I don’t owe you anything!”

There was loud banging followed by a crash and panicked screaming – there were loud thuds and then – more banging like fists hitting flesh. A woman’s screams begging the man to stop –

But within that short amount of time Katara barely had time to react as Zuko shoved away from her and ran out the door with his dao. Seconds later Katara’s mind finally caught up to the situation and she was right behind him.

Their neighbor’s door had been broken down and was in several pieces scattered across the apartment.

Katara took in the sight of a large man – the smell of alcohol and old sweat wafted off of him. A bloodied woman was huddled at his feet, sobbing – her clothing was disheveled – and Zuko had one of his swords at the man’s throat.

“Leave.”

“This whore owes me – “ the man heavily slurred his words.

“Get out – you need to leave. Now.” Zuko pressed his sword slightly – just enough that a small trickle of blood stained the man’s collar.

Katara moved then, as the man was distracted and placed herself between the woman and her aggressor. She waterwhipped the man across the face, leaving behind a harsh, red welt.

He blinked, slowly processing the situation. Good. She had his attention. She hoped that she sounded as threatening as her words,

“I’d recommend listening to Lee – he only gives one warning – and no-one questions what happened to a corpse – it was a person who was just another unfortunate victim of the Lower Ring.”

The man grumbled under his breath and thankfully relented. He spat out an insult – but was cut off by Zuko demanding that he start walking.

The man stumbled and Zuko followed the man’s movements; not dropping his guard even once.

Zuko followed the drunk out.

Katara then quickly turned her attention to the woman, who was sobbing and apologizing – Katara simply began working on cleaning up and healing her. It was then she recognized the woman – the one who had been sitting outside their apartment building that they had given those buns to – and was the one who had nightly visitors…

“Are you okay?”

“…I’ll live.”

Zuko came back.

“He’s gone now.”

“Who was that?” Katara asked.

“An unhappy customer; hazard of the job,” the woman laughed drily. She then asked with a harsh whisper, “Why’d you kids interfere?”

“…Why not?” Katara asked genuinely.

“You don’t deserve to be treated like that.” Zuko bluntly said and began picking up her door – though – there wasn’t exactly much that could be done with it.

“Do you have the supplies to fix this?” he asked, as if just realizing the issue.

The woman motioned to a small chest and boards of nearly rotten wood in the corner of her room. Zuko retrieved a hammer and nails, and a few boards and set to work.

“Why are you treating me like – like – why are you nice to me?”

“You’re a person…and you were hurt.” Katara replied, not understanding.

“You’re the first to say that in a long time…” the woman said quietly. “What’re your names?”

“I’m Katara – that’s my husband, Li.”

It didn’t feel nearly as strange introducing Zuko as such this time.

“I’m Hara…” she mumbled, thoughtfully adding, “You’re only kids…and already married?”

Katara shrugged and felt the heat in her face. “Yeah…”

Hara was quiet for a few minutes, the only sounds Katara could hear was skittering and Zuko hammering the door. She moved about the apartment, cleaning up what she could.

“I was married once.” Hara said quietly. “I didn’t always have this life, you know.”

Katara stopped – as did Zuko. Though he didn’t turn to look at Hara.

“We came like everyone else, hoping for better things – but people outside these stupid walls – they don’t know anything.”

Hara spat her words like a curse and nearly mocking.

“Disease took Chung away from me – leaving me and my son, Ran-Go – and he – I couldn’t even – there was nothing I could do as he wasted away.”

Katara could only hug Hara, not knowing what to say. What words of comfort could she possibly even offer?

“I don’t understand why you’re so nice to me.” Hara’s muffled voice said into Katara’s shoulder.

“Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity,” Katara replied firmly.

Hara held onto her tightly, and Katara’s eyes stung with tears.

She thought of her struggles trying to get into contact with her friends – thought of all the people who were searching for lost loved ones – of Hara coming to this place to keep her family safe and losing everything anyway.

Ba Sing Se wasn’t the source of hope and peace that everyone thought it was. It was just a temporary bandage for an already festering wound.

 Zuko finished fixing the door, and Katara helped him put it back in place.

“Take care,” Zuko awkwardly muttered as they bid Hara a good rest of her night.

“Thank you,” Hara whispered.

Katara was tired but still felt far too much awake to go back to sleep as her mind buzzed. It was near infuriating that she and Zuko had been the only ones to help Hara. Considering how sound carried through the building, there was no way their neighbors hadn’t been able to hear the drunk’s yelling and Hara’s screams.

Zuko was sitting on the futon, and Katara settled next to him hugging her knees. Both of them were far too much awake to go back to sleep anytime soon.

He spoke up after a while.

“You know, when I was little – I used to imagine someone coming to my mother’s rescue when Ozai got angry like that.”

Katara looked up at Zuko, but he was staring straight ahead.

“Of course, no-one ever did – who would even be able to say or do anything without committing treason?”

He laughed humorlessly.

It then occurred to Katara how fast Zuko had moved before she even had the chance to realize what was going on. She had initially been creeped out at the fact that he never made noise as he walked across the squeaky floorboards of their shared apartment while hers always did.

 There had been no reason for him to do so – they were safe, relatively. But that had to have been instinctual.

“Sometimes we have to be our own hero.” Katara said, not knowing how to respond.

“…Yeah.”

She could feel his natural warmth as they sat there, and she watched the candles flicker – noticing how they moved in time to Zuko’s breathing. Was he doing it intentionally or subconsciously?

He shifted a little so that he was facing her.

“Um… Did…do you still want to start that Bending school in the Southern Tribe?”

The question was very sudden, and it took her a moment to reply.

“Yes, of course.”

“Did you know that there are other Waterbenders outside the Poles?”

She figured he’d tell her about the Foggy Swamp but decided to simply humor him – let him tell her about this because he was the one who brought it up.

He took her hand in his, and she adjusted to get slightly more comfortable.

Zuko ran his thumb in small circles over the ball of her hand.

“This is the mainland of the Fire Nation, and here,” he gently pressed his fingers against hers, and tapped his fourth finger and pinky on her fingers. “The smaller islands – there are Waterbenders.”

“What?” Katara could hardly believe it. Waterbenders in the Fire Nation?!

“The Black Rock Waterbenders.” Zuko explained. “They’ve been there for years, even before Sozin’s time. If…if things ever work out – if you could visit the Fire Nation – they have their own style of Bending. Maybe – maybe you could learn from them.”

She looked up at Zuko with disbelief.

“And – and in the northern Earth Kingdom – Xīn Yuè Bay – it’s actually not that far from Ba Sing Se you know…” Zuko seemed to be rambling. “There are the Wet Foot Waterbenders – you can’t go see them directly, but the faction living on the Bay, you can.”

“…Why couldn’t I go see these – Waterbenders directly?”

“Because they don’t let outsiders into their villages. They have the belief that the dirt on people’s feet is dirty – I mean, cursed, or something. Like, that person is bringing all the evils with them. So they go their entire lives without ever stepping on dry ground. Even if a Tribe member is forced onto land, they can’t return to the Tribe.”

“That’s sad…”

Zuko could only shrug. He was still holding her hand, but Katara didn’t pull away.

“The only way to survive in their villages is to be a Waterbender, and they have a sacred birthing cave or something that can only be reached through waterbending. And so they will drop off their non-bending children to the people at the Bay. Those people can have a Waterbending child – but since the kid was born on land, they aren’t allowed into the Wet Foot Tribe’s territories.”

There was something disheartening about that, Katara thought. To be part of a culture yet to always be outside of it looking in.

“It was a few months after my-my banishment and the Wani was in desperate need of some repairs. We had to dock at Xīn Yuè Bay – it’s neutral.

“While we were there – I met some guys – they were older than me – and they wanted to um, hang out? Anyway, Uncle pushed me to play with them,” Zuko sort of laughed, “Like a ‘normal’ kid.”

Zuko had a wistful smile as he spoke.

“Akihar and Hanno. Akihar is a Waterbender – and he described my hair at that time as a shaved ostrich-horse’s ass.’”

Katara began giggling helplessly, “That describes it perfectly!”

“Ha, ha.” Zuko replied dryly, obviously trying not to smile.

When Katara managed to calm down, without really thinking she reached up and brushed Zuko’s hair out of his face. “You do look much better with hair like this.”

“Oh, um…” Zuko cleared his throat, and the pink tint on his cheeks was very evident. “A-anyway, um…Aki told me and I quote,” Zuko changed his voice into what was likely an imitation of this Akihar guy; a drawling, bored tone, “’If you ever get your shaved ostrich-horse ass head out of the Fire Nation’s scorching sphincter you’re welcome to visit me and my family again.”

Katara snorted. “He has an interesting way of putting things.”

“That’s him watered down.” Zuko said, his voice now normal. “And in all honesty, I think he was just bored and pretty much wanted free transport because he thought I was the most tolerable to travel with or something.”

Katara couldn’t help but burst out in laughter. Zuko? A pleasant traveling companion?

He seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, because Zuko shoved her shoulder knocking her over.

“Sorry, I’m sorry!” Katara said through her laughter as she hugged herself trying to calm down. She definitely wasn’t sorry at all.

Zuko rolled his eyes, but still had a small smile. She sat up and forced herself to focus, containing her giggles.

“Anyway. He and his siblings and cousins– they were probably the closest things I’ve ever had to having friends of my own – without any of – outside of my family’s influences.”

That was kind of sad, Katara thought but she didn’t say anything.

“I mention all that because I really think if you could meet Aki – he and his siblings – one of his cousins is also a Waterbender. They’re all really good at bending. I’m sure they’d love to come help you with your school. You’d need a lot of skilled teachers, and teaching on your own can be exhausting, and having all those bending styles in one place – that’s never been done before – that could certainly help things in the South, right? And--”

Katara looked up at Zuko – he had been listening to her rambles – he remembered. She wasn’t sure if he really knew how much that offer meant. Then it occurred to her that maybe he did know how much it meant because he had offered.

Telling her about other Water Tribes. To want her to visit the Fire Nation – telling her about friends who could help her at a school that was a far-away dream – to know she had his support – and he was already thinking about the potential good it could do in the South.

She looked up at him, taking in the way the candlelight shaped his features – and she smiled as she pressed closer to him, even though she didn’t need to. In fact, Zuko shifted a little so that she could get closer.

“Thank you, Zuko.”

Her smile only grew when he looked at her with that expression and smiled back. It was small and genuine. Knowing that smile was meant for her –  that she was the one who put it there when Zuko rarely smiled – it made her feel special; like she was the only one in on a secret. That even if other people saw that smile, they wouldn’t know everything it entailed.

A pleasant, wonderful feeling bubbled up through her – something Katara wasn’t even sure how to properly identify. It made her heartbeat so fast and loud she wondered if Zuko could hear it too.

“Anytime.”

“So…about these friends of yours…what’re they like?”

Zuko looked thoughtful.

“Hanno’s an Earthbender – and he’s crazy – likes doing all these incredibly dangerous stunts that I honestly expected him to die several times. Aki's crazy in his own way. He would do these water orb techniques when he was hunting.”

“Water orb?”

“He’d put this ball of water over a say, a moose-gazelle’s head. And then pretty much drown it on land by forcing water into its lungs.”

That sounded – Katara wanted to practice it – though – she couldn’t practice it through hunting. Maybe she could just practice the orb and figure out how to make the water move properly.

She took his hand in her own and imitated the actions he had done just minutes before, rubbing her thumb across his palm, feeling the callouses and his warmth.

“Tell me about the Fire Nation Waterbenders?”

Zuko’s raspy voice washed over her as he spoke of this other Tribe who lived in in the jungles; and they wove beautiful tapestries and she didn’t mind as he went off-track telling her about the beaches that depending on which island you were on, there was white sand; gray; reddish-brown and even shimmering gold. There were seasonal plants that bloomed and smelled so sweet.

He told her about some of the people he’d gotten to know because Lu-Ten loved to take him and Azula out on adventures and sometimes even Uncle joined them. Ember Island – when his family was happy –

“If we were ever even happy…” Zuko said with a quiet scoff, like the memories of his childhood weren’t actually what he’d initially claimed them to be.

He spoke with such fondness of his memories, that Katara couldn’t help but think of her Tribe Elders speaking of a time when they were young themselves.

Zuko desperately missed his home; she could hear it in his voice. Katara wanted to see it for herself one day and wanted Zuko to be the one to guide her through it all. To taste all those foods and spend time looking out at an ocean that was a deep, sapphire blue.

 It sounded beautiful just from how he described it – he insisted more than once that he wasn’t doing the islands any justice.

The beginning of sunrise crept up on them – leaving only about an hour or so for them to sleep. Probably even less for Zuko, because he would rise with the sun. Katara would have done it again, if given the chance. To have Zuko truly open up to her like this – she would do it again at any given opportunity.

She pressed herself up against Zuko, so that she could wrap herself around him and bury herself into his chest. She had a small smile as Zuko pulled her closer to him.

Chapter Text

Today, Katara had to work and Zuko had the day off so he went to get the shopping done. It had been frustrating for the past few weeks, especially for Katara. There was nothing she could do but wait for her letters to eventually be delivered.

But that didn’t mean she would give up.

There was a local post office, except they only delivered within their own district. Upon seeing Katara’s expression that was a mix between angry, frustrated, and upset, Zuko had snapped that didn’t make any sense. It entirely defeated the purpose of the post when people could easily just make the delivery themselves.

But then it was pointed out that not everyone had the luxury of time – so maybe it did make sense for the stupidest reason.

But then the postal worker said that they could deliver to the other districts and Rings, but that there was a short waiting period and extra charges. Which then would have eaten into their limited finances. There was the additional problem of not knowing the Avatar’s address – no guarantee that the Avatar was even in the city – and the letter would sit in limbo as a result.

But, if they wanted to contact someone outside of their local district, go to their district’s government office –

It was Katara who held Zuko back from punching the guy.

It was purposefully forcing people to jump through several hoops, making them spend time and money they didn’t have and isolating them.

There was a lot more trash on the streets today. Kids were running past him having made simple toys out of the papers.

Zuko walked by a trampled paper and saw a drawing of a familiar-looking bison, and – he stopped short, turned and picked up the poster.

The Avatar’s bison had been taken?

A voice broke through the crowd.

“…you need to hand over any posters regarding the Avatar’s bison. Outside propaganda will not be tolerated – “

“The Dai Li are coming!” someone hissed.

The grime covering the poster was an afterthought as Zuko quickly shoved the poster into his shirt and ducked into an alley.

He watched as several Dai Li agents made their way through the streets. The way they moved together so seamlessly made it seem unnatural. With their feet hidden by their uniforms, it looked as if they were floating across the ground. It only added to their creepiness.

Even though it was noon, Zuko stuck to the shadows and made sure to keep his head down. Just like everyone else.

He had to stop once or twice, and repeat the phrase, “There is no war in Ba Sing Se” because the Dai Li were making sure that everyone knew better than to go looking for anything that involved the Avatar.

===

Back at the apartment, Katara stared at the poster with concern. On one hand, she hadn’t realized exactly how long she’d been separated from the others. On the other – Appa was missing and had been for several weeks. But on the positive side they now had Aang’s address, who was in the Upper Ring.

But then there was the waiting period of delivery and extra costs, and they couldn’t even guarantee how soon a delivery could even be made.

“Katara. I don’t think we should try to contact the Avatar.”

Katara looked up at Zuko. A part of her wanted to argue and demand why, but then – Zuko would have his reasons.

“Why not?”

“Because we could unwittingly bring attention to ourselves if we send anything to the Avatar. Think about it. The Dai Li – they came through and were taking ruined posters that kids were using as toys – nobody was really paying attention to what was on the poster except for the Dai Li. Why do you think that is?”

Katara bit her lip.

“…They’re hiding something?” Confusion and concern laced through her. “But why? That doesn’t make any sense!”

“Something’s going on with them, obviously. But…if they’re actively trying to hide the fact that Appa’s been taken and that the Avatar is in the city, then – that very well might mean they have the bison.”

“Why would they do this – they have far bigger concerns about the Fire – you know – and shouldn’t they be doing everything they could to help find Appa?”

“…It’s about control, I think.” Zuko muttered. “If you could control someone like the Avatar…”

The implications were horrifying – Aang would surely be devastated if he were used like that.

“What are we going to do?”

“Start looking at the local government offices, the Dai Li have offices scattered throughout the districts. And I’ve seen the walls that separate the districts. I think I – we – could scale them. Search for information that way. We might even be able to steal a few Dai Li uniforms.”

“…You’ve thought about this a lot, huh?” Katara asked, smiling a little.

“Not really.” Zuko muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “That’s just the surface…at least, that’s where I’d start, I guess.”

---

Katara was exhausted, but she wanted to start looking right away.

She slept for a few hours before Zuko woke her up. They still had their dark clothing on hand from that prison break, so they got dressed and made their way out.

Zuko was swift, moving from shadow to shadow. Katara was right behind him. She wondered how he had mastered moving like this. There was a thrill to this mission, though.

Even though it was serious, there was something fun about this as well.

They found one of the Dai Li’s offices. While Katara wanted to go looking right away, Zuko stopped her. He wanted to make sure that there were no guards, and he wanted to know their routines.

Admittedly, she knew Zuko was right. It took a few nights, and it made Katara more antsy with each passing day. Her fatigue and worry made her so obviously distracted at work, but somehow she managed to push through.

But as Zuko pointed out, the problem with such strict routines was that it made people predictable. It didn’t take very long to learn the schedules, see that they used several keys for one door to gain entrance to their office instead of earthbending…

Unlike the surrounding buildings, their offices were made from a very durable wood. Maybe that was to keep Earthbenders out. Maybe it was just their presence alone that deterred other people from snooping.

Zuko kept watch while Katara shimmied the locks with a bit of waterbending. It was a bit difficult since it was slowly moving the lock tumblers and she couldn’t leave behind any evidence that someone was there.

They got inside and began carefully looking through files. Anything indicating Appa or the Avatar – but there wasn’t anything.

They had to lock the door again, and Katara had to shimmy the bolts back into place.

It was exhausting and took far too long.

It was frustrating.

They also made their way by the district’s government office just in case of anything – but it came up fruitless.

Feeling discouraged but not defeated, they soon had to make their way back to the apartment.

They at least had a few hours before they had to start their day.

===

Zuko and Katara slowly began working through a process. They’d go to work as usual; go home, one person would sleep for a few hours while the other took care of whatever needed to be done; and then they’d switch.

They’d head out in the early morning hours, and stalk after various Dai Li agents they spotted. They’d stick to the shadows, listen in on conversations trying to find anything.

It didn’t take very long when they started scaling over the walls to the neighboring districts.

---

Katara easily created foot and handholds as they slowly made their way up the wall.

When Zuko had been younger – and so much more foolish – he’d realized that he wasn’t getting the information he needed to find the Avatar. So, he’d had to sneak into Fire Nation bases to get what he’d needed. He saw it as a challenge, a hurdle. Perhaps his father had been setting up those challenges to make Zuko work for it that much more so that once he had proven himself worthy he’d deserve to –

Zuko shook his head to clear and focused on the task at hand.

Having Katara there made things so much easier. Knowing he had someone to watch his back if the worst-case scenario happened brought a source of comfort.

Several times the Blue Spirit – Zuko – had nearly been caught. Ironically, he’d gotten lucky with his escapes that were far too close for comfort.

They slipped through the shadows and found another Dai Li office.

They slipped in, and Zuko grabbed several papers to sort through them.

It was all very unhelpful. It just involved people and names that didn’t mean anything, and strange phrases sometimes. More than once, the name Lake Logai came up.

Katara suddenly hissed, “Dai Li!”

What? Now? Zuko mentally went through several colorful curses that would have made his men proud and Uncle admonish his language. The agents were moving outside of their routine!

They didn’t have time to slip out unseen.

Zuko quickly locked the door, because if the Dai Li realized that it was unlocked, then they’d have reasons to look around and linger. Both of them would more than certainly get caught.

Glancing around for a potential hiding spot, Zuko practically yanked Katara up to the rafters to hide. She didn’t even protest, though Zuko was fairly sure he had gripped her arm hard enough to leave a bruise.

Katara had barely even gotten the folds of her haori tucked under her when a few Dai Li entered the room.

Zuko practically held his breath as he listened to the agents moving underneath them.

Their positioning was such that Katara was pressed up against Zuko with one of her legs pressed between his. Her face was near his and one of her hands were tightly curled against the fabric of his shirt. The other one was pressed tightly against her mouth. He could feel the tension of her body against his, and her nervousness was more than evident.

His stupid brain started thinking about certain things. This was not the time to be thinking about such things, and Zuko bit his tongue just enough to force himself to focus. He was extremely grateful for the cloth mask he was wearing because otherwise Katara might have asked what was wrong with him.

He could see her eyes nervously watch whatever was going on beneath them.

“…can’t believe this! The level of incompetence we’re dealing with here is--!”

“I get it, alright?”

“I don’t think you do. We’ve got two compromised Joo-Dee, and Kun-Lai interacted with the Avatar’s group very briefly is suddenly having flashbacks – so get what you need to do your job and do it properly this time.”

“Yes, sir…”

Their conversation was…off. Like, it sounded strange and serious, except the men spoke with little to no real intonation. It was all monotone.

There was the sound of shuffling papers, and the men left as quickly as they had come.

The sound of the door locked, and they waited for several tense minutes – maybe it was just seconds, but they felt dragged out. There was the worry of the Dai Li somehow realizing that someone else had been there, and maybe they had guards posted outside.

But they had to move, otherwise they would get caught.

They unlocked the door, but Katara didn’t have a chance to lock the door again because they could hear people talking and coming their way. Whether it was the Dai Li or not, neither were willing to take the chance.

They quickly made their way through the streets, up over the walls, and other than a few brief stops to make sure they weren’t being followed, they finally relaxed (somewhat) back at the apartment.

It was here that they began inspecting the random papers Zuko had grabbed.

Zuko frowned at what he was reading because it was all very confusing and downright weird.

There were names of people; some with extensive notes in elegant handwriting to keep an eye on them. Some people even had fake names, or something…

A few people had notes written down such as, ‘assign a role to make a spy in thirteenth district in Lower Ring’ and ‘sufficient for servant in Wang-Maru’s household. Unsuspecting. Exact role to be assigned.’ Others said, ‘needs more time with the light and stronger hold.’

Again and again, a place named Lake Logai came up.

The more Zuko read, the creepier it got. The notes sounds so casual and detached as they talked about people who would be assigned roles to catch potential terrorists and even help in blackmailing Nobles.

“…What even is this?” Katara asked, horror in her voice. Her eyes were wide as she looked up at Zuko. “…This is why people are disappearing, isn’t it?”

An uncomfortable feeling rose through Zuko like bile.

They were just supposed to be looking for the bison – and now they had discovered some conspiracy where the Dai Li were – kidnapping and brainwashing the citizens and using them however they pleased.

If they weren’t careful, he and Katara might draw attention to themselves. The thought of being brainwashed – and being a prisoner in his own mind – he breathed, in and out.

“We…” Zuko spoke slowly. “We need to get rid of this-“

Katara looked not angry, maybe horrified.

“Or hide it – we can’t have this here or have any evidence of it ever being in our possession.”

“…I understand.” Katara said, deflated. “Knowing this is happening…maybe we could reveal-!”

“No, absolutely not.” Zuko said, cutting her off.

Uncle’s voice rang through his mind, reminding him to think things through. Maybe it was the fear and the panic at the very idea of one or both of them suddenly disappearing into the depths of Ba Sing Se motivating his rational and survival instincts. Maybe it was the stories that Uncle told him about people who defied the Fire Lord strangely disappearing or having entirely avoidable accidents.

Zuko hadn’t appreciated it at the time and had yelled at and insulted Uncle for even insinuating it: Zuko had been lucky that he had only been burned and banished. Maybe he’d misunderstood what Uncle had been trying to say.

“What will we do if we reveal this, and then what? We could get caught in the middle of a civil war. It could draw the Avatar’s attention – but Katara – look at what lengths the Dai Li are going to.” He had genuine fear in his voice, and he didn’t bother hiding it.

“You have a point…” Katara was looking up at him with concern. “…Are you scared?”

Yes.

He didn’t want to admit how terrifying this actually was. But…

“I don’t mind looking for the Avatar’s bison, but I don’t want to find out what the Dai Li are truly capable of.”

There was nothing they could do.

“Maybe…maybe Aang could fix it.” Katara said quietly. “We find Appa, and then everything will work out.”

Zuko scoffed. “He’s just a kid.”

“…We’re all kids.” Katara replied with a huff.

“We’re in over our heads.” Zuko muttered.

He ran his hand through his hair. Katara reached over and ran her fingers through it.

“It’s all stuck up…” she explained, and it wasn’t difficult to miss the pink coloring her cheeks.

“A-anyway…” Zuko cleared his throat, and his face felt very warm. He tried not to miss the contact. He had to focus. “The name of this lake keeps coming up – I wonder if it’s an actual place?”

“Could be…” Katara said, fiddling with her fingers as if she didn’t really know what to do with her hands. “I guess we can’t ask around, but… I’m sure we can find something.”

He stuffed the papers under a loose floorboard by the counter.

He wondered if he should just burn it all to hide the evidence.

Because of the too-close call earlier that night, even though Katara didn’t like it, they agreed to wait a few days to begin their search again. It was mostly a precaution on Zuko’s part because if those Dai Li agents realized that documents were missing and there had been an unlocked door – they might tighten security. They might bring in more agents in the Lower Ring and the search would become even more difficult than it already was.

===

Katara didn’t like spending the extra money, but it was worth it to buy the passes to travel between the districts in the Lower Ring. This way, they could seek out the Dai Li offices in the daytime and then come there at night.

Katara and Zuko both held hands as they went on an excursion to another district or “date” as Hara teasingly called it.

People mostly ignored Katara and Zuko as they went about their lives just trying to survive from one day to the next.

They were walking along when Katara tripped on some uneven stonework. Thankfully, Zuko was already holding onto her so she didn’t embarrassingly faceplant.

Katara straightened herself up but stopped short when she saw a large footprint.

A suspiciously Appa-sized footprint.

“Z-Li…look!” she whispered.

His good eye widened very briefly before he looked at her.

He didn’t even have to say anything. This would be the place they could truly start looking.

Zuko was so overly cautious that he didn’t want to start looking in that district until a few days had already passed. Just in case people were watching.

---

Zuko’s fingers tickled her feet, and slowly began trailing up her leg. Katara let out a soft moan. His fingers teased against her thigh and then her back. His hand tangled in her hair.

Zuko licked her neck, and then her ear.

It felt so good, and Katara wished he would just – and then Zuko freaking bit her!

---

Katara snapped awake.

“Zuko what the hell?!” she hissed.

Infuriated that he’d take advantage of her in her sleep, Katara was ready to slap him.

But then Katara paused when she realized that she was sleeping on top of Zuko in such a way that it would have been physically impossible for him to bite her. Zuko snored softly and murmured in his sleep – not like a nightmare – he was fine.

But then Katara realized that she had dreamed about Zuko doing things like that to her – and Katara was mortified. And then it registered in her tired brain…something had in fact bit her.

There were scurrying noises throughout the apartment. She…she wasn’t imagining that, right?

Right?

The sound of scurrying continued, and she gasped when she felt something brush her arm.

Slowly, Katara turned to look over her shoulder and was met with a pair of beady eyes, a wiggly nose surrounded by whisker-antennae.

“Ugh!” Katara quickly brushed off the – creature. Gross, gross, gross!

And then another creature ran across Zuko and went straight towards her face!

Katara could finally see it clearly now: cockroach-rat. There were cockroach-rats crawling on them.

Maybe the one on her shoulder and the second cockroach-rat would have been fine, but then there was a loud “BBDDDDDDD” noise like flapping wings, and Katara felt them crawling on her legs – cockroach-rats were crawling all over them – looked up and saw in the faint moonlight that the walls and ceiling were moving – and Katara couldn’t help it as she suddenly sat up and screamed – kicking the creatures off.

“Wha-?!”

“AHG!”

As soon as Katara had screamed, Zuko suddenly sat up – and headbutted Katara hard on her nose and mouth. She heard a crunch – maybe she was just imaging things. Maybe it wasn’t even broken. Had she lost any teeth? Hopefully not. She fell to the floor and whined as blood dripped from between her fingers.

Zuko started cursing as he shot to his feet and brushed off their unwanted visitors.

He grabbed his swords and began slicing away at the creatures that hissed and squeaked. Katara finally managed to pull herself up and began water-whipping the creatures. Their scurrying sent revulsion through Katara because she realized she had been hearing them throughout the previous nights.

The cockroach-rats invading the sanctity of their dingy apartment were either eliminated or had managed to escape slaughter.

Katara and Zuko collapsed to the floor, panting.

Katara healed her nose, and thankfully it wasn’t broken. Her teeth were fine, too. She then healed her ear.

“I could go the rest of my life and never experience that again…” Zuko said with obvious revulsion. “I swear I can still feel them crawling all over…”

“…Yeah…”

Both of them looked at each other. A beat. They began laughing. It was absolutely ridiculous. Though, Katara would never admit to having a dream like that about Zuko to Zuko.

She couldn’t recall ever hearing Zuko laugh. It was a nice sound, and made him look so different when he smiled.

“Sorry about hitting your face…” Zuko said once they had managed to calm down.

Katara shrugged. “My face is fine, thankfully.”

She smirked. “But you really should let me heal your forehead. It’s already bruising.”

“Okay.”

Without really thinking about it, Katara moved so that she was nearly straddling Zuko’s lap with one of his legs between hers. It was only then she realized the rather…compromising position she had taken.

Focus!

 She just needed to be this close to see the bruise and they were already on the floor, anyway. It was just easier like this.

Yeah… Easier.

Katara brushed Zuko’s bangs aside and healed the bruise.

She then deposited the water into a nearby pot.

She didn’t need to, but she brushed Zuko’s bangs to the side again, a little more slowly this time.

Zuko was looking up at her.

She should pull away now. There was no reason for her to be doing this. The bruise on Zuko’s forehead had already been healed.

Katara kept telling herself that she needed to move.

Zuko didn’t push her away. Was he waiting for something?

Katara’s hands slowly trailed down until she was holding onto both sides of his face. Her fingers ran along the smooth and uneven textures. Maybe it was selfish of her, but she liked how this felt – liked simply being in contact with him.

Zuko leaned into her touch.

Slowly, Katara bent forward. She wanted to kiss him, but nerves made her too anxious to verbally make the request. She moved so that if Zuko wanted her to stop he could pull away. She thought that if he did, it would hurt – and she would be disappointed…

 His hand moved up and cupped the back of her head. His fingers tangled in her hair.

He pulled her to him and met her the rest of the way.

It was awkward at first, because their noses bumped against each other uncomfortably. So, they had to tilt their heads slightly to make kissing a little easier.

This was different than the kiss back in that town – this felt – far more open and welcoming.

They only stopped when Zuko had to lay back because his head was at an unnatural angle, and his neck was starting to get stiff.

Katara laid on top of him. Zuko gently held the back of her head, while his other hand traced up and down her back.

She wasn’t sure how long they kissed – because it felt wonderful, and it almost seemed that no time had passed at all.

Zuko held her closely, and Katara also ran her hands through his hair. She could keep doing this for much longer. A selfish part of her wished time would stop so that they could spend uninterrupted time together. But the reality of the world was that there was a war; Appa was still missing somewhere in Ba Sing Se; and she had to find her friends.

So, she would take this moment and treasure every bit of it.

===

Zuko enjoyed the feel of Katara against him.

A part of him felt so selfish that he wished the morning wouldn’t come, and that he could ignore the outside world and all the problems that they faced. Katara was the one good thing to happen to him in so long.

His fingers traced the faint scars on her hands. She was so gentle, so genuine and kind. But there was a storm housed within her calm; he’d seen it several times and experienced it personally.

Knowing what Katara was capable of--

He had the sudden thought that he had to take this, whatever this was, seriously.

He had to consider the repercussions. What would it mean for them if they went beyond all of this?

Zuko considered the fact that there was no way his father would ever approve of this. Of her.

But then Ozai had cast him out. Ozai was his father, but when had…

Perhaps…it no longer mattered.

Zuko toyed with her hair and his fingers brushed up against her ear. Katara giggled and held onto his hand.

The thumb of his other hand ran gently across her cheek. Her hand reached up to hold his.

Her eyes reminded him of the color of the ocean in the Fire Nation. He thought that he’d love to see her wearing red one day.

He closed his eyes as she kissed his scar.

If there was just one thing he could have, it would probably be this. For once in his life, this was something freely given, and he knew exactly what to give in return.

Chapter Text

Over the course of the following days, Katara and Zuko went back into their normal routine, just to be sure they weren’t being watched. Zuko was clearly being paranoid (he obviously had every right to be).

Katara was getting impatient, and her anxiety was building.

It was Zuko who told her that things would be fine. Which was ironic, coming from him.

“If I’m the one giving you reassurance, then we’re really in trouble.”

Katara blinked, looking up at Zuko for several seconds. He’d made a joke, and that got her to laugh. She bumped shoulders with him.

“Hey, being hopeful and optimistic is tiring. I could use a break, sometimes.”

“And um…how would you like to relax?” Zuko asked, slowly leaning closer.

“I have a few ideas?” Katara said, and she could feel her face burning.

Zuko’s good cheek was red – and suddenly Katara couldn’t help it as she burst out laughing.

Zuko snorted. “You ruined it.”

“I’m sorry!” Katara said through her laughter. “It’s just hard trying to be all serious.”

“I’d seriously like to kiss you right now.” Zuko was pouting, just a little.

And so, slowly, Katara began kissing him.

They were exploring this strange, new normal they had going between themselves, more and more.

Although there was some touching, there wasn’t anything beyond kissing. A lot of kissing. Which was fun.

Sometimes, Katara liked holding Zuko’s hand. His calloused hand around hers was comforting and warm. Sometimes, she liked hugging his arm as they walked.

Zuko started having this smile on his face more often. He was relaxed, and more at ease with her.

The big topic they both avoided so far was whether or not he would officially join them and teach Aang. Katara didn’t want to push too much – because it clearly bothered Zuko.

But still.

“We’ll be finding Appa in two days, so…” Katara started. At least, Zuko didn’t exactly stiffen up and close himself off this time. “Have you…you know, decided?”

“I don’t know.” Zuko said. “This is…my father…”

“But…didn’t you say that he basically wanted to arrest you? So…why?”

“What if…” Zuko didn’t look at her. Instead, he gazed out the window of their apartment. The sounds of children playing and people shouting – not fighting, or anything. Just…going about their everyday life as if the world outside wasn’t waging war. “What if it was your family? Even if they…weren’t the best people, could you fight against them?”

Honestly, Katara didn’t know. She couldn’t imagine going against her father or Tribe; or fighting against her brother.

“I guess…I’m having a hard time understanding,” she admitted.

Somehow, they found themselves holding hands across the table. Zuko’s hold on her fingers tightened, just a little. Not enough to hurt, but there was clearly something on his mind.

“…You’re lucky.” Zuko finally said.

She looked up at Zuko, and he was studying their hands with far more intensity than should be expected. The fingers of his other hand slowly traced the scars on her hand. Tickling a little, but not unpleasantly so.

Katara didn’t know if she could consider herself lucky. Because Mom was dead because she’d been protecting Katara. If Katara was truly lucky, she’d be…not here. Perhaps, it was a different kind of luck at play that put her here with a Fire Nation boy who was the son of the world’s greatest enemy.

==

Her voice was quiet as she asked, “Why do you want to go back so badly?”

“It’s my home. It…” Zuko sighed. “My mother’s garden is there.”

At least, he hoped it still was. It was still being maintained after Mother left, but what if Ozai had decided to get rid of it after he’d been banished?

He didn’t really know what to do, because this wasn’t just about not being able to see Mother’s garden ever again. He’d truly be cast out – and dammit – the Avatar was just a kid!

 Even after Ozai – after everything – his face still stung at the memory – Azula’s lies – everything. It felt far too overwhelming. What was he even supposed to do? Live out the rest of his life as a refugee in the Earth Kingdom as ‘Li’? Or…he glanced up at Katara, who smiled at him. Small, gentle, and painfully sad because she looked as if she were about to cry.

Or…if he could live in the South, somehow. And then the memory of his entrance when he first…

Zuko groaned as he slammed his head against the table.

“Zuko!”

“Ow.”

It didn’t hurt, but it made him feel mildly better.

==

Katara caught Zuko talking to a rabbit-cat.

“Hello, Li, here. I’m helping your sister…um…I’m helping…you and your bison.”

She muffled a laugh, which got him to turn and glare at her.

“What’re you doing?”

“…Practicing.”

“You’ll be fine,” Katara assured.

==

A plan formed as Zuko told Yu, Pao, and Toseu that they were leaving. They simply said that Katara had found her family, so they were leaving.

“You’re talking crazy.” Toseu said in response. He must have heard something in Zuko’s voice, because he looked genuinely concerned as he asked, “Are you two alright? You aren’t in any trouble, are you?”

“It’s fine, really!” Katara quickly replied.

“Yeah, I mean…there’s no trouble.”

Zuko’s tone wasn’t very reassuring.

Toseu still had a strange expression on his face. He looked very serious as he told them, “You two better take care of yourselves out there, got it?”

This request was quickly agreed to.

Katara didn’t want to just leave them short two workers.

“I think we might know someone who could work here. We’ll just have to ask her.”

“Sure.” Yu said with a shrug.

--

The next day, Katara and Zuko walked in with Hara.

She wore a simple dress and had her hair up in a bun, and basic makeup. Her bruises had been healed just fine by Katara.

“This is our neighbor, Hara.” Katara said with a smile.

Yu was staring for several seconds before he finally asked, “Are you hungry? I’ll make noodles for you.”

He turned before Hara could even respond and got to work.

Observing the interactions over the course of the day, Katara smiled. When they had a chance, Katara leaned close to Zuko and whispered, “I think he likes her.”

Zuko glanced over.

Yu was talking to Hara, showing her how to cook and Hara looked positively glowing as she laughed at something Yu had said. In turn, Yu looked pleased that he’d gotten her to laugh.

Katara smiled and couldn’t help it as she hugged Zuko right then and there. Knowing that they were able to help one person – it made a difference.

--

Toseu had let them go early on their last day.

Stupid nerves made Katara antsy. But Zuko hadn’t mentioned anyone following them, and of all people Katara was sure he’d be the one to notice. It was decided between them that they should find a restaurant to eat at as a sort of “goodbye” to the Lower Ring and their district.

They came to a place that required going through a twisting alley. There were people playing music and dancing, and simply enjoying themselves.

Katara sat across from Zuko at their rickety table eating overly sweet dumplings and undercooked rice. The vegetables were a little too salty and the sauce covering them had an unpleasant kick that built up after a few bites.

She watched as Zuko ate, and he smiled a little at the veggies.

“It almost tastes like…something I used to eat back…back home. Maybe the cook was influenced.”

Katara glanced down and inspected her veggies. The dish needed something else, in her opinion. Something to help balance out the spiciness.

She then noticed that she and Zuko were holding hands, like it was nothing. Katara gently squeezed his hand, bringing his attention to her.

“You’ll get to go back, someday.” Katara stated as if it were fact.

“Yeah.” Zuko replied, and his expression made Katara feel warm, which was especially noticeable in the cool, evening air.

There was a companionable silence between them.

After they were done, Zuko asked, “Do you uh, want to…go for a walk?”

Katara wordlessly set herself up against him, appreciating his warmth.

It was unsettlingly comfortable, Katara was finding, how easily she could fit here, next to Zuko. And equally wonderful.

Zuko looked pleased and very content.

Katara thought that maybe they’d run out of things to talk about – but then they began talking about customers – the ones they’d miss and the ones they wouldn’t. Some they hadn’t seen in a while, and there was hope that they were okay wherever they were.

They came upon a fountain that was surrounded by softly glowing candles, and Katara was transfixed. She could feel the water in the fountain flowing

“It’s beautiful.” Katara spoke in a whisper, as if afraid that speaking any louder would disrupt whatever spell was over this place.

“Yeah. It is.” Zuko said just as quietly.

Katara turned to look at him and noticed that he was looking at her.

Her face flushed, and Zuko slowly leaned towards her. Katara tilted her head back and met him the rest of the way.

Katara thought of Jet, just then – not of Jet – but rather, what he’d wanted to do when he’d kissed her – trying to use his tongue. How did it work? Did they take turns? Did they…lick each other’s tongue? Or…suck it? Did it feel good?

Katara’s face felt especially hot as she pulled away, and Zuko looked so cutely disappointed that she had. But she looked up at him and asked, “Have you…have you ever kissed with your…your tongue?”

Zuko’s eyebrow furrowed. “…No?”

“I…I want to try it.” Katara said, feeling so awkward as her voice strained and…was it getting hotter out here?

“How…um, how exactly do you um, do that?” Zuko looked exceptionally awkward.

“…I don’t…know.” Katara shifted back and forth on her feet. “But I want to try with you.”

It was a fairly quick walk back to their apartment. Because since they didn’t know exactly what they were doing, they’d much rather have privacy instead of somehow embarrassing themselves in public.

=

Zuko wasn’t sure what to expect – he’d overheard his crew talk about certain things involving intimacy, but a lot of it had either gone over his head or he’d ignored it because it hadn’t pertained to finding the Avatar. Now a part of him wished he’d paid a little more attention, so he’d at least know what to do or what to expect.

Katara’s tongue being stuck into his mouth certainly wasn’t it. He jolted at the feel of it, and she pulled back.

“You try now.”

So…they were supposed to take turns? Zuko had no idea if he was doing this right. It admittedly felt strange and a bit different as he stuck his tongue into Katara’s mouth.

There was a bit more trading back and forth between them before they realized it was easier and felt far more natural to simply kiss with their mouths open.

=

This felt amazing, Katara thought.

--

They’d only gotten a few hours of sleep before they had to leave.

They were extra cautious as they snuck through their district and up over the wall.

There was a sewer grate nearby that with a little force, they were able to open and sneak through. They quickly climbed down the ladder making sure to make as little noise as possible. Katara did her best to ignore the smell and she noticed that Zuko was making a concerted effort to not gag.

They had to walk along a path in the tunnel and Katara swore that she could feel every once of disgusting refuse floating in the water with a prickling sensation across her skin.

There was a concern that they had it all wrong. Maybe they were walking nowhere.

But then, they came to a door that by their terrible luck was not only locked, but also didn’t have a handle.

Zuko leaned over her shoulder, whispering and he pointed.

“The bison’s footprint is that way.”

Beyond the door…

They had to find a way inside.

Just then, the door shifted and Katara and Zuko practically slammed themselves against the wall to hide.

A pair of Dai Li agents walked out.

Neither of them had to even look at each other as they fell upon the agents. It was quick and painless (but not for the two agents).

With Zuko’s help, Katara shoved them down into the water and put ice over their mouths. She felt only a little guilty using the sewer water, but at least she got rid of the impurities that were in it.

 By the time the agents would be discovered, hopefully she and Zuko would be lone gone.

They borrowed the Dai Li robes and quickly, they passed through the door. Unfortunately, there was no time nor any way they could close the door because the only way to do so was earthbending.

But they kept their heads down and walked just like they’d seen the Dai Li agents do.

They passed by a room filled with women and a lone agent.

“Welcome to Ba Sing Se. I am Joo-Dee.”

The monotonous voices of the women speaking as one sent shivers up Katara’s spine.

This was too creepy.

She was glad Zuko was here as he began navigating the twisting hallways towards where the footprint was.

They finally found a room, and – Appa snarled at them as they entered. He thrashed around violently.

“Appa!” Katara cried out. He stopped, and stared at her.

Appa was filthy. His fur was matted, and there was an unpleasant smell.

“They chained him!” Katara said, feeling tears come to her eyes. And since it was difficult to control a sky bison, they’d just let Appa wallow in his own filth.

“Shhh, Appa. It’s me, it’s okay.” Katara shushed.

Appa rumbled and whined as she pet his face. Even Zuko reached out and scratched his cheek.

“It’s okay…we’ll get you out.”

There were voices, but Katara didn’t focus on what they were saying.

Zuko was quick to move. His voice was a loud whisper. “Let’s get him out of here!”

Between Katara quickly cutting the chains with her water, and Zuko cutting them with his swords, they were able to remove the shackles.

They barely had enough time to climb onto Appa as he took off with a roar.

--

Katara whooped as she raised her arms up. Zuko’s arm was wrapped around her waist, and she knew that he wouldn’t let her fall.

Zuko also whooped, and he laughed, and it was truly elating and so freeing as they flew over the city and the walls towards the Inner Ring.

Katara threw an arm around Zuko then, pulling him into a one-sided hug. Plus, so he wouldn’t have to cling to her so tightly. She gripped Appa’s fur and briefly glanced at Zuko. He looked over at her and grinned lopsidedly. He looked so…roguish, what with the way his hair whipped around his face.

Oh…wow. Okay.

Katara was blatantly staring now because that grin was doing things to her.

Focus!

--

It didn’t take very long for them to practically crash land into the courtyard for some big house.

And Katara slid down with Zuko after her, and the people in the house came out.

“Appa!” Aang called out.

“Sokka!” Katara cried out, and oh, it felt so good to finally see him.

“Katara!” Sokka hugged her so tightly she felt that she couldn’t breathe. But she didn’t complain.

Aang hugged her and pulled back. His eyes widened.

“Zu-?!” Aang started, but Katara stopped him.

“You remember, Li, right?”

==

What? What was this? Sokka tried processing it. Was his brain somehow suddenly reeling with cactus juice again?

He was glad that Katara was back; overjoyed and relieved. But…with Zuko?!

“Hi, Li here.” Zuko said. “I helped your bison, and-!”

Zuko was cut off when Appa licked him, leaving behind well…thick saliva. His hair (yeah, he had hair now) was stuck up.

Zuko looked back at Appa with disgust. Sokka smirked. The jerkbender kinda deserved that.

“Aw, he likes you!” Aang chirped joyfully.

Katara laughed and pointed at Zuko. “You have an Appa-lick!”

Was that some weird joke? His baby sister should know better to leave the jokes to the professional.

But then, Zuko smirked and…he wiped a glop of saliva onto Katara’s sleeve.

“Gross! Z-Li!” Katara said, laughter was clearly in her tone.

“What?” Zuko asked. He looked very awkward as he asked, “That’s uh…Appa-licking to you?”

Wait.

Was that an attempt at a joke or something?

And Katara laughed?

Wait…

Something was going on here, Sokka was sure of it.

“Katara?” Toph’s voice sounded strangely small. “Katara, I’m…!”

Katara pulled Toph into a hug. “It’s good to see you, Toph.”

“Yeah.” Toph’s voice cracked. No-one pointed it out.

Well, it turned out that there was a note for Aang from some Guru tied to Appa’s horn.

After making sure Appa was taken care of, they got tea and snacks (which was just a bonus, here)

“What happened?” Aang asked.

Katara gave a summarized version of running into Zuko and ending up here.

“What’s that on your finger?” Sokka asked. “On both of your fingers?”

“Oh. Right.” Katara said. “We had to pretend to be married so we wouldn’t get split up. I guess we forgot to take them off.”

Both Katara and Zuko were a little slow removing those rings, Sokka thought.

“Married?!” Aang’s voice practically cracked.

Sokka had the sneaking suspicion that Aang liked Katara – like really, really liked her. Just from what Sokka had gathered as they wondered if Katara was okay. There was how Aang had phrased certain things and the tone of his voice as he said them. Plus, Aang had tucked himself up next to her on the couch.

Was it just Sokka or were Zuko and Katara’s knees touching? It was inevitable because of where they were sitting, but it how their knees were touching.

Zuko clearly left some things out as he talked about getting split up from his uncle.

“Where’s he now?” Sokka asked, and the way Zuko’s expression shifted into something else –

“I don’t know. I don’t even know if he’s alive.”

“Oh.” Sokka said.

Nope! No. He’s not supposed to feel sorry for an enemy! Former enemy? But Zuko looked way too young and too tired as he talked about his uncle.

There was the explanation of how they’d lost Appa, and a library in the desert – but Sokka was quick to not mention the Day of Black Sun and did not bring up beating the Fire Lord because it was his kid sitting right across from him at that moment.

He’d be sure to tell Katara about it later.

--

Dinnertime rolled around, and…Zuko was cooking?!

The past few hours were getting increasingly confusing.

What if Zuko poisoned them?!

When Sokka voiced this concern, Zuko rolled his eyes. “You’ve just uncovered my grand master plan. Damn the luck.”

Katara admonished him with a tone in her voice. “Seriously, Sokka. Zuko wouldn’t poison anyone.”

Sokka suspiciously took a bite of the jerkbender’s food – and it was actually good?! How?! Sokka took several bites just to be sure…and maybe he suspiciously took some extra helpings just to be extra sure.

“Make sure you eat some extra of this,” Zuko told Aang very bluntly as he pushed one of the dishes closer to the Airbender. “You need to make sure to eat extra protein since you’re not eating any meat.”

“Toph, at least use your napkin.” Katara said, tucking the napkin into Toph’s collar. “You shouldn’t make extra work for the people doing your laundry.”

This was…weird. Sokka thoughtfully took a large bite of the noodles.

He noticed how Katara and Zuko bumped hands and how they leaned towards each other sometimes.

Was it…?

Sokka’s thoughts were derailed as he ate some meat and it was so tender and practically melted in his mouth.

If this was how the jerkbender prepared food maybe they should keep him around.

Chapter Text

Aang noticed things; things he couldn’t put his finger on. But whenever he saw Katara talking to Zuko, and the way they leaned towards each other and bumped hands and when they did chores… something ugly would rise up in Aang’s stomach and it made him feel sick and angry and…he should be glad that Zuko was there, right?

In fact, Aang had been the one to ask if they could have been friends. Katara had briefly mentioned that Zuko could start teaching him firebending, though Zuko’s lessons hadn’t started yet.

When it came to firebending all Aang could think about was how he’d burnt Katara.

Katara…sigh.

But he could see something in between Katara and Zuko, and he didn’t like it. That nasty feeling in his stomach built up something fierce over the following days.

Maybe he was just imagining it. Yeah! That’s right…he was just imagining it. Katara was his forever girl, after all.

Besides, Katara and Zuko had spent several months traveling together so a friendship between them was understandable.

It wasn’t like that at all.

He didn’t think…

Just in case, Aang tried to help out with chores in the kitchen and tried helping out with the laundry. He tried repeating what he saw happen between Katara and Zuko. Bumping hands together and stuff.

With Zuko, Katara’s hand would linger.

With him, Katara would say stuff like, “Oops! Sorry, Aang.” and “Oh! Be careful, okay?”

Aang tried positioning himself next to Katara when they were in the kitchen, but more often than not he’d get moved somewhere else because the spot next to Katara “wasn’t convenient” though sometimes Zuko would take that coveted spot…

What was so different?!

Okay…so maybe it was different because Zuko could reach up higher and hand Katara things, and maybe he could chop stuff faster and do…stuff.

Aang had the feeling that Katara was drifting away; further and further.

==

Katara was noticing more things about Zuko.

When Zuko pulled Toph aside and started showing her how to use a knife, Katara nearly voiced her concern. She should say something. But she stopped and watched.

Even Toph had said something about “sure, hand the blind girl a knife” but Zuko was gently persistent.

His reasoning was it aimed towards self-sufficiency and control.

“Are you saying you can’t do it?” Zuko asked, and it was clear by the expression on his face that he fully intended for Toph to take that as a challenge.

Zuko held her hands, gently guiding her. “Hold what you’re trying to cut like this, so you don’t cut your fingers. The knife should brush up against your fingers like this…”

Seeing Zuko patiently guide Toph and to see that Toph was receptive…and then seeing how Toph would demand Zuko carry her…and the way he would smile and carry out her demands…

Seeing how easily Toph would listen to Zuko, Katara thought that she should have been annoyed. But instead, a feeling of warmth pooled into her belly, and she couldn’t help the smile that formed on her face.

Toph had Zuko wrapped around her finger. But there was something in there that Zuko got from her too.

Aang was a hugger, and he would hug Zuko. And cling to him like a koala-monkey. Zuko would get annoyed and yell, but he never yelled at Aang or Toph or Sokka…just…he got annoyed at them. He may have physically pushed them away, but he never shoved them.

Seeing how Zuko interacted with the rest of their group, Katara began to wonder if…she…

The thought made Katara desperately wish that Mom was here. Or that Gran-Gran was easily accessible. Because she needed to know and truly understand the feeling that was building up inside her.

==

Maybe it had been their time working in a kitchen; or maybe it was due to something else. But Zuko found that he and Katara could work seamlessly together while they were cooking. He’d retrieve something out of her reach; sometimes she would hand him something he needed sometime even before he finished asking for it.

Sometimes the others would come in to talk, and Zuko put them to work. All of them would voice their complaints, of course.

It was reminiscent of Zuko being back on his ship as he yelled.

“Stop complaining! This isn’t a social event! If you’re gonna be in here, you’re gonna do something to help. So, either work or get out!”

Food was often prepared much quicker with so many people helping.

“And no sampling!”

Sokka yelped as Zuko whacked his fingers with a wooden spoon.

“Do not touch your face or your mouth while preparing the food! That’s disgusting!”

“You’re disgusting.” Sokka muttered his complaint.

“I’ll cut your meat portions in half if you keep up that attitude.” Zuko simply turned back to what he was doing.

Sokka voiced more complaints and left the kitchen, clearly annoyed.

==

Toph had her suspicions early on.

Aang’s heartbeat would beat rapidly whenever he was around Katara.

Whenever Katara and Zuko were in close proximity to each other their heartbeats would practically match each other in their rhythms.

A few days after their arrival, Toph waited until well after everyone had gone to bed. She then left her room, and figured if anyone asked, she could claim that she was going to the bathroom or something.

The house that was provided to them was more than big enough for two extra people to have their own rooms.

Toph stood outside of Katara’s room, and using her Seismic Sense, she could tell that Katara’s room was empty. Interesting, very interesting.

She then stood outside of Zuko’s room, and…oohhhh. Ohhhhh! A smirk spread across Toph’s face. Zuko wasn’t alone.

According to their heartbeats, they were both asleep.

During their travels, more than once Aang had expressed his worry for Katara and later, Appa. It was obvious Aang had a full-blown crush, and well… The feeling wasn’t mutual. That was certainly going to be an interesting conversation.

The drama would be great to witness. 

Toph wondered how she could use this info to her advantage.

==

Sokka noticed things. He wasn’t as oblivious as some might assume. He had suspicions that something was going on between his sister and Zuko.

Just in case, Sokka had to voice his worries to Katara.

“He’s the son of the big bad and you need to be careful” type of talk. As a big brother, he had to say something.

The conversation only made Katara angry at him, and his sister could hold grudges. She fiercely told Sokka that he had nothing to worry about and that Zuko wouldn’t betray them.

Sokka hoped that she was right.

Still, he had to tell Katara about the Day of Black Sun plan, and how they needed to see the Earth King to get war efforts moving.

He insisted that Katara not say anything to Zuko.

It only resulted in an argument where Katara was especially cold towards him.

Sokka wished their conversation hadn’t gone so horribly wrong. He wished Dad were here so he could at least offer some advice.

==

“You’re going to invade the Fire Nation on Day of Black Sun?!” Zuko demanded the next day.

“You told him?!” Sokka demanded.

“I couldn’t keep it a secret.” Katara replied.

“You can’t do that.” Zuko said very seriously. “You honestly think that the Fire Nation doesn’t know about something that could take away their bending for any amount of time?”

“Well…I mean…” Aang shuffled from where he sat. “It would be easier to fight the Fire Lord that way, right? I haven’t mastered firebending yet, so…”

“Toph.” Zuko crossed his arms. “You’re the closest. Would you hit him for me, please?”

“Ow!”

Aang rubbed his shoulder and scowled at a gleefully smirking Toph.

“You’re an idiot!” Zuko stated. “Ozai isn’t going to be waiting for you in the Throne Room – there are bunkers underneath the palace where the Royal Family can go into hiding until it’s safe.”

“There are bunkers?” Sokka asked.

“Several of them. It’s a maze system. You’d have to know which one he was in, and how to get there in the least amount of time.” Zuko glared at them. “Plus, you have the non-Benders. These are people who have trained for years using weapons and hand-to-hand combat – Mai and Ty Lee are a just preview of what they’re capable of.”

“But…it could be our only chance.” Sokka said.

“It’s a bad idea.” Zuko insisted.

“It’s just…even if we don’t win the War, it could at least…” Sokka shook his head. “It could give us an advantage.”

“I’m against this plan of yours,” Zuko said. He held up his hand. “Not because you’re attacking the Fire Nation, but because it’s a suicide mission. I’m not going to try and stop you – because you clearly are set on doing this, but I’m just warning you that I don’t think it’s going to work. My help only goes so far.”

Zuko turned and walked away, clearly done with the conversation.

Sokka watched him leave.

“Do you…think it’s not going to work?” Aang asked him quietly.

“We have to at least try.”

At least, this information could help Sokka adjust his plans accordingly.

==

There were several attempts at trying to see the Earth King. Even the Avatar was put on a waiting list “by order in which the request was received”.

The creepy Joo-Dee ladies simply kept popping up and trying to escort them elsewhere.

When they learned that the Earth King was going to have a party, they just had to get in.

“It’s not going to be that easy,” Toph griped in between bites of her food. She belched, and her lack of manners was easily ignored by the others at this point. “This is Ba Sing Se – the city of “rules and rules for how those rules are supposed to work”.”

She looked annoyed as she added, “I could flash the Beifong Family Crest and I still couldn’t get in. Aang might have a chance as the Avatar, but from the way things have been going lately, I doubt it.”

“How do we get into a party we weren’t invited to?” Sokka asked thoughtfully.

“We could always just steal the invitations from people the night of the party.”

Everyone slowly turned to look at Zuko.

“What?” he asked.

“I knew I liked you.” Toph smirked and punched his arm.

When he complained, she only responded, “It’s how I show affection.”

Toph wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“These Ba Sing Se elites are so full of themselves. We do this right; they wouldn’t want to admit to anyone that they got anything stolen.”

A plan formed of simply buying the necessary expensive clothing.

==

The evening was warm as the couple made their way down the well-lit street. They were dressed in their finest linens, and the woman wore her finest jewelry.

The man thought he heard a noise. Maybe he was imaging it?

Suddenly, the lamplights started inexplicably going out. The strange noise; a combination of a scraping, humming, and hollow sound echoed around them.

A towering figure with glowing eyes of fire headed towards them, an irritating scraping sounded against the stones. A roar sounded, and surely, this must be some sort of Dark Spirit!

Fog rolled in, and frost formed.

The contradicting elements surely must mean that this creature was otherworldly.

The creature stood over them. Its height was near nine feet tall.

A long, black hand slowly reached out towards them.

Its voice was low and raspy.

“Payment.”

A low, cackling echoed from within. The howling echoed from around them and the air grew colder still.

The couple feared for their lives, and quickly dropped their things: jewelry, money, and an invitation to King Kuei’s party.

The figure collected their offering.

“This is acceptable. You shall keep your lives as payment.”

“Tell no-one, or you shall die,” a separate voice whispered from within the creature, sounding especially eerie. The voice cackled, and the people ran.

--

Several couples, and a few individuals, found themselves being the unlucky ones to encounter a strange Spirit in the Upper Ring.

==

The plan had been simply enough. They did take a little more than they actually needed to avoid

Earlier that day, Katara and Toph got pampered and had their makeup done. It was simple enough to make sure they didn’t get sweaty or dirty and didn’t smear anything.

They all bought extra-nice clothing to make their roles more convincing.

Blushing a bright red, Aang sighed and told Katara, “You’re really pretty.”

“Thanks, Aang. You’re sweet.” Katara said, holding out her arms. She spun a little as she examined the flow of the material.

She then reached out and adjusted Aang’s collar a bit and made sure that his collar and hat sufficiently covered his arrow.

It was far easier to present Katara and Toph as being high-class ladies. Because Katara and Sokka looked so much alike, he still played the brotherly role. He carried himself like a Noble, though his antics made Zuko roll his eyes. Everything Sokka did or said was overly exaggerated.

Toph didn’t think Sokka could pull it off.

“Maybe you should just be silent.” Zuko suggested.

Sokka had his own complaints, but he agreed to be quiet and simply give vague, one-word answers. Though, he kept making weird faces that he thought were “high-class”.

Zuko was a bodyguard while Aang was a servant. Zuko was good at being all serious and scary, and Aang had to be reminded not to act exuberantly.

==

Katara picked at none-existent fuzz on Zuko’s sleeves as an excuse to touch him (just in case anyone asked). But really, she was admiring how he looked.

“You look…” Zuko whispered to her, his breath tickled her ear. “You look amazing.”

“Really?” Katara looked up at him, with her hands resting on his arms and her smile was small and shy. Why was she blushing so hard? Her words failed her. How was she supposed to respond?!

Katara leaned into him for a few quick seconds. She looked up at Zuko and her eyes traced his hairline, and she admired the way his hair had been pulled back. Zuko’s face was far too distinctive, so he wore some cloth that covered the scar.

She wanted to run her fingers through his hair – she liked playing with it and enjoyed how Zuko would kiss her…

Her face burned at the sudden thought.

The cloth covering his eye gave him an especially mysteriously dashing look. He was like an escort/bodyguard of sorts, and he wore dark green and black clothing with gold accents. As a guard and servant, he was supposed to blend in and be unnoticeable.

In contrast, her clothing was greens and yellows, meant to standout. But Katara noticed how his clothing made the gold in his visible eye stand out.

“You look very mysterious.” Katara told him. “And badass. A mysterious badass.”

Zuko smirked, looking proud and very pleased as he leaned in teasingly close. “…Thanks.”

His voice was a whisper, as if the simple gratitude was meant for her ears only.

Katara began waving her face with her fan when she suddenly started to feel very warm (why was it so hot in here?!) and Toph was suddenly snickering.

“What are you guys doing?”

Aang’s voice caused them pull away from each other, drawing them back to reality.

They all got into position, with Sokka, Katara, and Toph leading the way.

==

All of their elaborate planning had been for naught when Momo managed to disrupt the proceedings.

Gradually, it came to light that a man named Long Feng had basically been in charge – Earth King Kuei was merely a puppet. The Earth King didn’t know anything about the War.

It struck Zuko how…naïve King Kuei was. He was older than Zuko by a few years, and yet he just didn’t seem to grasp the full situation. He was like Aang, in that sense, but didn’t have that same hold on childish wonder.

Long Feng’s smile stretched across his face, vaguely reminding Zuko of Zhao in a way, but different.

“The people are happy. They are satisfied. Would you really rip their comfort from them?”

The Dai-Li moved in like shadows. It was a silent threat.

“There is no war in Ba Sing Se, understand?”

The warning was clear.

==

It was disheartening to think that they had come this far, only to be stuck.

Katara and Zuko had gone for a walk (Aang hadn’t even known they’d left, otherwise he would have gone too).

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” he tried not to let the hurt disappointment in his voice show.

“Three-wheeled carts aren’t a pleasant ride,” Toph replied after a drawn-out yawn.

“What does that mean?” Aang asked. “What do carts have to do with anything?”

Toph frowned at him. She was about to say something else when they came back.

They could hear Joo-Dee calling after them to have a pleasant evening.

“They’re following us. The Dai-Li.” Zuko announced after he closed the door. He held a bag of groceries and looked very serious, though also a bit awkward. “I’ll go put these away.”

“We made sure, too.” Katara looked annoyed. “We walked all around. Zuko noticed that we were being followed throughout the city. Joo-Dee was basically there to keep us in check.”

“I could have helped.” Aang said sulkily. When the others looked at him questioningly, he slouched and muttered, “…Somehow.”

“Let’s make dinner and we’ll think about it afterwards.” Katara said.

==

“We have to do something.” Sokka said, racking his brain for a plan. “We have to get into the palace and prove to King Kuei that there’s a war happening, and that Long Feng is manipulating…well…everything.”

“But how? With them watching us there’s no way they’ll let us near the palace.” Aang said.

“We could always get arrested.” Zuko suggested.

“Whoo!” Toph cheered. “Time to break some rules!”

Zuko managed to stop her from smashing the wall of their house.

“I was joking.”

“Boo! I thought you were cool.”

“…Actually…” Sokka looked at all of them. “Katara. Zuko. You remember where you rescued Appa from?”

Sokka smirked when they nodded.

“I’ve got a plan.”

Chapter Text

Toph let out a breath and stomped her feet. She concentrated and sensed where their Dai-Li babysitters were standing on the nearby buildings. Between her and Aang, it was easy enough to nab them while they focused on Sokka, Katara, and Zuko who congregated in a very suspicious manner in front their house.

Joo-Dee could do nothing to stop their little group from simply walking into the palace.

---

Aang led the way, using all the Elements he had at his disposal. Toph and Katara followed him, while Sokka and Zuko took the rear. They both used their weapons to fight off anyone who tried attacking from the back.

They entered the palace, with Toph making her own shortcuts by going through the walls.

“There’re plenty of Earthbenders!” she reasoned. “If they can’t fix something that simple, then Kuei needs new staff.”

King Kuei and Long-Feng were shocked to see them, understandably.

Sokka took over the conversation, telling King Kuei about the War, brainwashing people, and even mentioning that Appa had been rescued from a prison.

“Nonsense!” Long Feng insisted. “This is obviously a ridiculous ploy!”

But of course, that didn’t last very long when Zuko produced several papers.

King Kuei frowned thoughtfully as he read them. His eyebrows visibly furrowed when he came across a particular document.

“This man is one of my servants…I suppose…I’ll be willing to listen to you.”

Long Feng did not look happy.

---

Long Feng looked downright murderous. It was truly impressive that he maintained that modicum of control.

He obviously hadn’t expected their group to lead King Kuei to the Dai-Li’s various offices. Toph easily unlocked the doors. There was also leading him to the district where Appa’s footprint had led Katara and Zuko right to where the Dai-Li had been keeping him.

King Kuei demanded that Long Feng stop with the usual Dai-Li operations, and he would see about returning to the people to their families and lives later.

“But…!” Long Feng apparently decided he wouldn’t try arguing. He composed himself. “Yes, of course.”

---

Sokka took the lead in telling King Kuei about the War, the Fire Nation, and Day of Black Sun.

“I don’t recommend invading on Day of Black Sun.” Zuko objected. “It’s too dangerous. The Firebenders will be waiting for the eclipse to pass, while you’ll have to deal with the non-Benders, traps – and it doesn’t even last that long. Once the Benders come back into the picture, what are you going to do?”

King Kuei looked thoughtful. “Sokka, I just want to be sure before I send my men to fight, but is this plan even viable?”

“I’m sure we can work something out,” Sokka said quickly. He turned to Zuko and hissed through his teeth. “Hey, buddy. A little less of saying how bad an idea this is and more support, please.

Zuko visibly sighed and shook his head. He wasn’t nearly as quiet as Sokka was. “You don’t get it, do you? You really think that everyone will sit back and wait? That they’ll just let you march up to the palace as you please? People on both sides will die needlessly.”

“I’m sure it’ll be okay!” Aang said with obviously forced optimism.

“This is a waste of time.” Zuko muttered, and he stood up to leave.

---

“Zuko? Zuko, wait!” Because of his long legs and how fast he was walking, Katara had to jog after him.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Back to the house.”

“But…” Katara wondered what she should say. “We need your help…it would be…” she shuffled a little, trying to make sure she would say the right thing.

 Because they needed to put up a united front for the sake of getting King Kuei’s help. If he thought that they couldn’t get along – if he doubted Zuko’s allegiance at all, then everything would fall apart before it even started.

She made sure her tone wasn’t condescending or accusing. “It would be better if we were united in this plan – if Sokka and King Kuei knew they had your support—”

“I’m not supporting enemies invading my country!” Zuko snapped.

Katara jolted. She wasn’t scared, not at all. Zuko looked far more on the defensive than anything. The conversation behind them ceased.

“I agreed to help and offer advice, and that is it. I won’t tell you anything beyond what I already have.”

“We need to be all on the same side…” Katara started to say.

“Sokka is going to get people killed.” Zuko said. “Ozai is ruthless. He won’t hold back – and the people following him won’t, either. Why can’t any of you understand that?”

“I’m trying, okay!” Sokka stood up. “This is our chance – a small window of opportunity--!”

“You want my advice? Fine. Your people will all get killed – on the battlefield if they’re lucky. If they get arrested, they’ll get tortured until they beg for death, and he’ll make you watch. That’s on you.”

Zuko stormed out, ignoring Sokka’s protest.

Katara turned briefly towards them. Toph was frowning. King Kuei looked concerned. Aang looked discouraged. Sokka looked both discouraged and angry.

“I’ll talk to him.” Katara said quickly, and she left before anyone could say anything.

She wasn’t sure what to say to Zuko when she finally did catch up to him.

“Zuko!” Katara called out. Since they had pretty much already made themselves known, there wasn’t much of a concern anymore to keep Zuko’s identity hidden. “Zuko, what is going on? I know you don’t like this, none of us do – but there’s not much of a choice—”

“You don’t get it.” Zuko kept walking, and Katara continued jogging after him.

“Slow down!”

He slowed down at least but kept on walking.

“Please, Zuko…talk to me.”

Zuko stopped, and Katara bumped into him. His shoulders slumped, and he muttered, “Not here.”

---

Back at the house, in the privacy of his bedroom, Zuko finally told someone else – his greatest shame – about his scar and why he had the scar. He told Katara about the 41^st.

Ozai was ruthless, and the horrifying proof of how far he was willing to go was on Zuko’s face. Katara thought of the handprint she had felt that night when she had offered to heal what she could of his scar – how she had thought that it probably wasn’t an accident. The truth was far worse than she ever imagined.

It wasn’t just about the invasion. Not entirely. It the fact that Ozai would gladly let his commanders sacrifice people as long as it got the job done.

“Sokka doesn’t know what he’s up against.” Zuko said. “There are people who won’t have any other choice – they think they’re fighting for their Nation, but they’re just being used.”

Katara hugged Zuko tightly and didn’t bother holding back her tears. She could feel his tension as he held her.

“Scars are a mark of honor in the Southern Tribe.” Katara said firmly. “No matter what anyone else says, you did the right thing.”

She didn’t know what else to say as Zuko started to cry. He was disturbingly quiet about it – she couldn’t see his face because she was hugging him. But she could sense it through her waterbending, and all the pent-up tension he’d been holding himself with was released.

---

The others returned later that afternoon.

Katara greeted them with a half-smile.

“Where’s the jerkbender?” Sokka asked.

“He’s in his room…” Katara then said, “Can we talk – privately?”

She didn’t tell Sokka everything, because there were aspects of the story that weren’t hers to tell. But she told Sokka about the 41^st. That Ozai wouldn’t hold back – Human life meant nothing.

It made Katara question if the invasion was even a good idea. Sokka was empathetic and intelligent. But he was up against someone who was willing to burn his own son’s face and sacrifice an entire platoon of soldiers because it got the job done.

“One and seventy-one soldiers. All of them were killed. They were only a few years older than you, Sokka.” Katara stared at the floor, thinking of how cruel Ozai was, and of Dad. Ozai was hidden safely in his palace, while Dad had left them behind to fight in the War.

It wasn’t about having to kill people. Katara was a realist. There was always a risk of people dying on the battlefield no matter how thought-out a plan was. It was about the fact that there would be a lot more death on both sides than was necessary.

“Then it’s all the more important that we stop him while we have the chance.” Sokka said. “Or at least, even if we don’t take down the Fire Lord, we can set back his plans for several months while we recoup our losses.”

But he did sigh. “At least…this gives us a better idea of how to fight. Maybe. We have the Earth Army and the Dai Li.”

---

That evening, Katara was relieved to see Zuko. She performed a quick healing session on his face to make his eyes look less puffy. His thankful smile was small, but tired.

He wordlessly helped her with dinner. They didn’t need to say much to work as a team.

At dinner, they all began discussing their plans.

Sokka wanted to meet his architect friend to go over some aspects of his plans. Aang was going to meet Guru Pathik so he could learn to control the Avatar State. Toph had received a letter that her parents were in Ba Sing Se. Tentatively, she was planning to go meet them.

Katara and Zuko would stay behind.

“You could come with me.” Aang said to Katara.

“Sorry, I’ve gotta stay here.” Katara replied. “I’m basically in charge of communicating between Dad, the other Chiefs, the Foggy Swamp Benders…there’s too much to do.”

Katara started to have her suspicions that Aang like-liked her. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings. She also sort-of had a thing with Zuko… There wasn’t a name to it, yet. But she didn’t want Aang to be upset at Zuko when he was learning firebending.

Aang had more important things to focus on.

===

Toph smirked gleefully. She carefully pulled her legs up onto her chair and made sure not to be too obvious about it.

“Say, Katara. Did you notice how warm it was last night?”

She could just hear Katara and Zuko’s heartbeats start racing.

“No.” Katara’s said through clenched teeth.

“I thought it was kind of cold, actually.” Zuko said tightly, obviously trying to change the subject. “It doesn’t get that cold in the Fire Nation.”

 “It was cold enough that I was sort of reminded of home.” Sokka said, contributing to the conversation that most certainly wasn’t about the weather. He chuckled. “I bundled up in my blankets.”

“If you’re cold, I bet we could all camp out in the living room!” Aang said brightly. “We could light up the fireplace, and – Oh! We could have snacks!”

“Oh, I’m sure Katara would just love some snacks.” Toph said.

Zuko was basically radiating heat at that point.

A loud thump sounded from underneath the table.

“Ow!” Sokka yelped. “Katara! What the heck was that for?”

Katara’s voice was strained with embarrassment. “Because! You – you – you asked for it!”

“What?” Sokka’s voice cracked. “Why?”

“You know exactly what!” Katara snapped.

“What’d I do?”

“You were thinking it!”

“Well, I’m thinking it now! Ugh, women.” Sokka muttered. “Am I right, guys?”

“I don’t know…” Aang sounded unsure. “I mean…please don’t fight?”

It was clear by his questioning tone he had no idea what was going on between the siblings. Sure, he’d support Katara. But he wasn’t a fan of violence (boring!) and so he didn’t exactly support Katara kicking Sokka for seemingly no reason.

“No.” Zuko said flatly with obviously thinning patience. “Hurry up and eat your breakfast. We have places to be.”

Toph was startled when a handkerchief was suddenly thrown over her head. Judging from the direction, Zuko was the culprit. This only made her grin triumphantly.

“What’d you do that for?” came Aang’s voice. He sounded confused. Which was understandable.

She resisted cackling.

===

With a bit of clever water bending, Katara used a melon to make a make-shift ball thing with several holes. She was carrying over to sit down in their living room when she spotted Zuko reading a scroll.

“Hey, Zuko!”

“What is that?” Zuko asked, his expression was somewhere between equal parts curious and horrified.

“I wanted to practice that water orb thing your friend did.” Katara sat down next him. “Do you know how he did it?”

“Aki said it’s like…you have to hold the water in place…and move it er…” Zuko looked thoughtful. “Internally? You want to move the water inside the orb without affecting the surface.”

Katara then formed a ball of water around the holey melon. And ever so carefully…she crushed the melon.

“Oh…” Katara at least, had access to several melons.

As she experimented, she was finding the process difficult. It was more about wrapping the water around the melon…and then stopping it from flowing into the holes. Katara’s arms strained.

She figured that Aki must have been skilled to have this kind of control. The challenge was exciting.

Katara groaned loudly when she crushed her fifth melon. At least…they were getting fresh drinks out of this.

By the sixth, her control was much better, but her arms still shook. She was gradually figuring out the process. The water she found, would naturally flow into open spaces of the melon.

Keep the shape of the orb, but control how the water flows…

The sixth melon lasted a few for a few minutes longer before Katara accidently jerked her arms from straining them and crushed the melon.

By the seventh, she had roughly figured out how to hold the water in place. It still wasn’t perfect, but she at least had the rough idea of it. She was satisfied with that accomplishment, small as it was.

They were both startled when Toph burst through the door.

“Toph?” Katara questioned carefully. Something was obviously wrong. Had she had an argument with her parents?

Toph didn’t reply as she slammed the door and marched to her room, where they heard her door slam shut.

Both Katara and Zuko were outside her door in under thirty seconds.

“Toph? Is everything okay?” Zuko asked as he softly knocked.

She didn’t reply right away, but her muffled voice responded, “It’s open.”

Toph was curled up on her bed.

“Toph? What happened at the meeting with your parents?” Katara asked, concern lacing her tone.

Toph sniffled.

“It wasn’t them. It was – my old earthbending teacher and the guy who ran Earth Rumble. They – they were the ones who sent the note and – they tried to lock me up, but I used my metalbending to get out.”

Toph’s breath was shaky. “I’m so stupid…”

“No, you’re not.” Katara quickly moved to sit down on the bed next to Toph. “I’m sure you can work things out with your parents!”

“They were paying them!” Toph yelled as she sat up. She didn’t face Katara. “I just – I really thought that…”

Katara tried to think of how to respond. What should she even say?

“Your parents suck hedge-pig balls.” Zuko said.

Katara couldn’t but let out a surprised gasp at Zuko’s sudden crude bluntness.

That got Toph to laugh. She sniffed. “Yeah. They do.”

“I don’t know what exactly happened between them and you, but sometimes, parents are the worst.”

“Yeah.” Toph agreed. She huffed. “I really wanted…I’m never going to be what they want.”

“Things could change.” Katara always wanted to look for the better things in life. The potential future and not the worst outcome.

Zuko was sitting on the edge of Toph’s bed, not facing her. “…You don’t have to be what they want.”

“I’m not sure I ever could be.” Toph admitted. “Too much hoity-toity for me.”

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out.” Katara said. “Maybe after the War, you can fix things…at least…you wouldn’t have to stay.”

“I guess.” Toph shrugged. “The world’s a big place.”

===

A comfortable silence descended over them. It was way too peaceful for Toph’s taste. Enough of the gushy-mushy crap.

“Let’s change the subject.” Toph smirked as she motioned loosely with her hand. “How long has this been going on?”

“What?” both Sweetness and Sparky said at the same time, totally being obvious.

“You two. I’m not against it.”

Warmth radiated from Sparky’s direction. Katara’s heartbeat thundered.

“A few weeks?” Sparky’s answer came out in the form of a question.

“How long have you known?” Sweetness asked.

“Give or take a few days,” Toph shrugged. “There’s no hiding it from me – but the others – they probably suspect something. But they haven’t discovered it yet. So, go ahead and do whatever you want, just don’t include me in the private things, yeah?”

Sweetness huffed and whacked Toph’s shoulder.

Sparky’s voice sounded strained. “I’ll go make us some tea.”

Toph couldn’t help but laugh. She felt better.

===

There was a knock at the door.

Katara answered it to see that a palace servant was there.

“Good afternoon. I was sent to inform you that the Kyoshi Warriors have arrived.”

Elated to see Suki again, Katara gleefully invited Toph and Zuko to come with her.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Zuko said. “My er…last interaction with her wasn’t the best. But maybe later.”

Katara and Toph both left with the servant.

===

It was several hours after Katara and Toph had left. Zuko had read through several scrolls already and he was tired of reading. He was getting bored. A part of him regretted not going with the girls when they left.

He’d figured that it was better for Katara to tell the Kyoshi Warriors about his presence there than just simply showing up.

There was a knock at the door. It gave Zuko pause.

Who was it…? Why would they be knocking?

Carefully, Zuko opened the door.

Three Kyoshi Warriors and a few Dai Li members were standing outside. It took several seconds for Zuko to realize – but by that time, it was too late.

“Hello, brother.”

Chapter Text

Aang made a face as he took another gulp of banana-onion juice. He suppressed a gag. This was for the sake of the Avatar State. Following Guru Pathik’s instructions, he concentrated on his Chakras.

He saw…a vision…of Katara fighting – who was she fighting? She looked scared…

Aang gasped. What was going on?! Katara was in trouble! He had to rescue her!

Guru Pathik tried to stop him. “You haven’t mastered the Avatar State yet!”

“I’m sorry, I don’t have a choice!”

Guru Pathik looked resigned as Aang left.

This was important.

He could just master the Avatar State later.

---

Aang spotted Sokka who was riding an elephant-gaur as he travelled with a small group of merchants heading towards Ba Sing Se.

They were certainly startled when Appa landed in front of them.

Aang rambled as he greeted the merchants, and then quickly pulled Sokka onto Appa. There was little time to waste. Sokka thanked them, and Aang waved, and they were off.

“I had a vision of Katara in trouble!” Aang explained.

“What?! What is Zuko doing?”

“I…don’t know?” Aang hadn’t seen anything with Zuko.

“I hope they’re both okay…” Sokka shifted worriedly from where he sat in the saddle.

“Oh! Hey, did you finally master the Avatar State?”

“…Uh, yes! Of course, I did! It was uh, easy!”

“Great! That’s a big part of my plan!”

Aang didn’t say anything. But a queasy feeling ebbed in his stomach, and he did his best to ignore it.

Guru Pathik’s warnings sounded in the back of his mind. Aang did his best to ignore that, too.

He just had to get to Katara and make sure that she was okay.

===

Katara hadn’t realized it wasn’t Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors until it was too late. The Chi-blocking girl and the knife-thrower went after Katara, along with several Dai Li agents.

Where was King Kuei in all this? Was he even still alive?

Azula and a few Dai Li went after Toph.

Toph was an amazingly skilled Earthbender – the best of the best; no argument there – but Azula was ruthless. What separated Azula from Zuko was her willingness to do whatever it took to win.

Even if it was injuring her opponent.

She targeted Toph’s feet, forcing her to break her root and burning her in the process.

Toph’s pained yelp was what distracted Katara – and then she was captured – nearly breaking her own arm in the process of trying to get away.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the taller girl stated blandly.

She had a point, Katara was loathed to admit. She couldn’t really move or feel her arm. If she injured herself…they probably wouldn’t let her have any water to heal herself with.

The Dai Li also had a curtain that they could hold onto with their gloves, and they wrapped it around Toph before stuffing her into a wooden crate.

They wouldn’t risk letting her near earth or metal…

Katara began rapidly calculating the risks in revealing her healing abilities. Or – was it common knowledge that Waterbenders could heal? Jeong-Jeong had said that he’d heard that Waterbenders had such techniques.

If she revealed her healing, would Azula demand something from her?

“Please! When my bending returns, let me at least heal her.” Katara said. Begged. Because this was Toph’s feet – her sight to the world.

“Katara…” Toph’s muffled voice was clearly pained. The fact that she was using Katara’s name and not a nickname showed how dire the situation was.

“Very well.” Azula said flippantly. “What? I’m not entirely heartless.”

She gave a very simple motion, and the Dai Li dragged Katara away, and Toph was taken somewhere separately.

Katara could hear Azula calling out commands, and she could hear something about Zuko – Zuko!

He had no idea…!

Worry lanced through Katara as she remembered what Zuko had told her when he’d thought that Azula was going to bring him and his uncle home.

---

 It was hours later when Katara was dragged out of her catacomb prison wearing stone shackles by the Dai Li.

Toph was still wrapped in that stupid curtain inside her crate prison. All Katara could see was Toph’s burned feet. It would have been comical if the situation wasn’t so serious.

Hopefully, the damage wasn’t permanent.

She was relieved to see Zuko, though he did look banged up like he’d put up a decent fight. He had rock gloves wrapped around his face. It looked as if it would bruise.

“Zuko!”

She was relieved that Zuko was here; but also worried because Zuko was here.

“You do anything besides heal the girl, I’m afraid dear Zu-Zu gets it.” Azula said with a haunting tease in her voice.

Katara didn’t want to risk arguing. Any protest on her part, and they might not let her heal Toph, or they might injure or even kill Zuko. This was her brother… Her and Sokka’s relationship certainly had its moments. Katara had threatened bodily harm to Sokka before, but it wasn’t like she actually meant it or wanted to do something permanent.

Katara healed Toph, and thankfully, the damage didn’t seem permanent. But Toph would need another healing session or two.

Katara carefully said this and made sure to ask as politely as possible. Shoving all her anger and pride aside for the sake of both Toph and Zuko.

“I’ll consider it.” Azula was annoyingly flippant.

Katara was dragged away again, and Zuko wouldn’t even look at her.

===

Zu-Zu had found himself a little Watertribe peasant. If an Earth Kingdom family wouldn’t take him, then maybe he thought a backwater people would. He’d gotten far more pathetic and desperate over these past few months than he ever had over the past three years.

He’d asked about her with genuine concern in his voice.

And the expressions on both their faces once they were in the same room spoke such lovely volumes.

Azula had the Dai Li take her brother to a room where they could speak privately.

All it took really was to offer something the other person wanted. Hold it over them tantalizingly. And like a starving wolf-lizard, they would take the bait.

She knew what Zu-Zu strived for. Zu-Zu wanted to go home so, so badly.

Azula could so easily play the part of the concerned, little sister who dearly missed her big brother.

She promised to spin a tale that Father would believe. He listened to her after all.

His honor and throne would be restored, and all Zu-Zu had to do was help her. Because the Avatar would surely be returning soon.

With a smile, she revealed that she knew Zu-Zu had been telling King Kuei all about the Fire Nation – and Zu-Zu had the nerve to deny it.

Her brother was always so naïve.

When he pointed out the whole incident on the ship, Azula lamented, what other choice did she have? She spun quite the story. Made it sound as if Father commanded her to do it – or else.

As if Father would ever do anything to her – not when she followed every command perfectly and then some. Unlike Zu-Zu, she knew how to follow instructions.

Zu-Zu didn’t say much. Perhaps he’d learned to keep quiet? Or maybe he was trying to not give anything away? How preposterous.

Here, it was just a few simple words to make him think she knew far more than she did. Give little hints. King Kuei certainly liked to talk. Such a foolish, naïve king. And Long Feng had been quite the little pawn.

All she had to do was poke and prod. Say the right words in the correct order, and Zu-Zu would follow her like a puppy desperate for its master’s attention.

Azula mocked just enough and threatened just right. Appealed to her brother’s sensibilities.

She made sure to drive an entirely plausible wedge between Zu-Zu and his little “friends”. Did he really see any future with the likes of those Water savages? Would they truly accept him? He may be a former prince, but he was Fire Nation royalty after all. He wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else that would accept him.

Plant a seed of doubt that would fester.

Zu-Zu was always so predictable.

---

Katara paced back and forth in her prison. Toph was – she would be okay. Katara should be able to heal her just fine.

What about Zuko? What happening with him?

How long had she been here? There was no way for her to keep time. She only knew it had been around a day.

Her concerns were somewhat answered when Zuko was shoved into the cave with her.

“Zuko!”

He was bruised and scraped up, but thankfully nothing serious.

He wouldn’t look at her, and only mumbled half-answers.

Katara bit her lip and tried not to show how hurt she felt that he was pushing her away again. She tried to be optimistic that Aang would rescue them. That everything would be okay.

Would it be?

What if King Kuei was dead? What if they kept him alive but made him a puppet king like he had been before, but it was worse this time? What if they killed him and only pretended he was alive? What if they replaced him? No-one really knew what he really looked like – they could easily get someone who looked similar enough –

Katara shook her head. No! She couldn’t think like that! She had to…

It was then Katara remembered that she’d been writing letters back-and-forth with Dad and some of the other chiefs over the past several days. There were even a few Earth generals in there.

They had discussed some aspects of their plans. But Katara didn’t know how much had been revealed.

“Zuko? Do you know how long Azula has been in Ba Sing Se?”

Zuko didn’t answer at first. But he finally answered, “A few days, I think.”

How much did they know? And – everyone would be writing to the Earth King, revealing even more information! They could send false information!

What were they supposed to do?

---

Over the course of the following days, Katara at least, was allowed to heal Toph’s feet. They had moved Toph into a wooden prison, so she was able to move around and get cleaned up. But it was clearly driving her stir-crazy.

Zuko kept getting dragged off to have conversations with Azula – and he seemed to withdraw more and more into himself each time. Maybe they were allowing Zuko to get sunlight, or something so he wouldn’t get sick.

But he wouldn’t even look at her, anymore.

It felt like a chasm had formed between them, and Katara had no idea how to even cross it.

The guards fed them basic meals and Ty Lee would perform her Chi-blocking on Katara. At least they were getting food.

She learned that King Kuei and Bosco were both still alive, thankfully.

Katara also began trying to think of a plan to get out of here. She may not have water, but she did have one option – and while gross, it was nearing desperation. She could use her…well…pee…

Ugh, both Toph and Sokka would have quips about that, she was sure!

---

“Zuko, please. Talk to me.” Katara said. “What is going on with Azula?”

“…Nothing…” Zuko didn’t even look at her as he answered.

Katara reached up and held his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her.

“I’m worried about you.” Katara didn’t know what else to do.

“You don’t have to be.”

Zuko was looking exhausted these days. How he was acting felt like when they first started traveling together but far worse.

Just then, the wall exploded.

“Aang!”

Katara ran to hug him. It was so good to see him!

Sokka and Toph were there as well. Toph was pissed and ready for a fight. Even King Kuei and Bosco were there.

“I regret that I’m not much of a fighter,” King Kuei bemoaned. “But if we get out of here, I’ll be sure to learn some aspect of defense.”

They quickly made their escape and came to a wide-open area of the caves. And there were waterways!

“Where do you all think you’re going?” Azula’s voice called out.

Dai Li agents dropped from the ceiling, and the fight began.

Katara was worn out, but she was determined to hold her own. She threw everything she could at Azula – and the other girl went down. Katara went to strike Azula. Not seriously maim, but –

“Brother! Help me!”

Zuko suddenly interfered with Katara’s attack.  

And with a horrifying realization, he began to attack her.

---

Azula couldn’t help but grin in triumph.

Her bother was always so gullible. Easy to manipulate, like putty in her hands.

And oh the hurt! The look of betrayal on the Water peasant’s face!

“I thought you had changed!”

“I have changed!”

Stupid girl. Azula knew her brother better than the Waterbender ever would.

Their fight was a bitter one.

The ceiling caved in, adding to the chaos.

Annoyingly, the Avatar hid himself in a pile of rocks. And then, the Avatar began to glow as he rose above their heads. The Avatar State was a problem that needed to be dealt with.

Azula went through the forms of lightning bending and took aim. At the very last moment she fired, Azula’s feet were swept out from under her. A sharp pain shot through Azula’s arm.

The bolt of lightning struck the Avatar’s shoulder, and he went down.

Azula was yanked to her feet and something cold and sharp was pressed against her throat.

“Shit-Aang!”

What?

Zuko was…holding onto her. What was…?

“Call the Dai Li off!” Zuko demanded. “If you don’t let us go, I’ll kill her!”

Was this a joke?!

“What do you think-?!”

“Shut up! Tell them to let us go!”

‘Us’ not ‘them’.

“He’s alive!” the Water Tribe boy announced. He quickly reached into the Avatar’s pocket and pulled out something and blew on it.

The Dai Li all were observing. Waiting.

This wasn’t part of the plan…why was Zuko doing this?

“Do you really think you have it in you to kill me?” Azula mocked.

“Do you really want to take that chance?” Zuko asked, and Azula felt a sharp sting and something warm trickled down her neck. Had he…he cut her? Zuko had cut her?!

She tried to reach up with her right hand…it…her hand wouldn’t move. The shooting pain in her arm registered.

“Tell them to let us go!”

“Don’t you want to know about Uncle?”

Her neck was pricked again and…

“As if there is anything you could say that I would believe.” There was genuine anger in the tone of his voice.

Near desperate, but Azula kept that tone out of her voice.

“What about your honor?”

“Ozai stripped me of that, remember?”

This was not according to plan. Would Zuko actually… She had to appeal to something else. Zuko would…

“I’m your sister.”

“Don’t start acting like you care about that, now.” Zuko sounded bitter.

“Hey!” the Waterbender’s voice sounded.

Azula only moved her eyes, worried that any other movement would result in Zuko accidentally (purposefully?) cutting her throat.

Mai’s head was inside a globe of water.

“I’m not very good at this technique just yet,” the Waterbender said. “I could accidentally crush her head in the next few minutes! Or maybe she’ll drown before then!”

“You wouldn’t.” Azula dared. These people weren’t killers.

But…Zuko was holding her hostage. They hadn’t been cornered and severely outnumbered before. A seed of doubt was planted.

“Let them go!” Ty Lee looked scared. “Please! Just – don’t hurt them…”

The bison arrived through the hole in the ceiling.

Zuko and the Waterbender walked their hostages backwards until they reached the bison.

And then they were shoved to the ground.

Azula toppled to the side when her arm couldn’t even support her weight.

Mai wheezed as she desperately took in deep breaths of air.

“Hey, Azula!”

She looked up at him, and Zuko was holding her crown.

“Good luck finding this. Don’t worry, it’ll be somewhere nearby.”

The bison flew away with the Avatar, King Kuei, and Zuko was with them.

The pain in Azula’s arm was a harsh reminder that she had lost.

---

Katara began healing Aang. He was seriously injured, but it could have been far worse. If Azula’s aim hadn’t been thrown off… Aang’s injuries were internal, and – it would take far more than just simple healing to make sure he would live.

She used the Spirit Water. There was no other choice.

Katara watched as Zuko threw the crown off somewhere on the rocky terrain below.

“What was that?!” Sokka demanded.

“That was the crown.” Zuko replied, grinning like a madman. “It’s made from a very unique and rare metal found only in the Fire Nation, and Azula can’t’ return without it. She’ll have to spend time looking for it—”

“No – back there – you-you!” Sokka wildly motioned to himself and Zuko.

“Jerk!” Toph punched Zuko’s arm.

“Ow!”

“Toph! Hit him again for me!” Katara demanded. “You’re such an ass, Zuko! I thought-I thought you had betrayed-!”

That Zuko had betrayed her.

“Ow! Alright, I’m sorry – I just – I didn’t know if we could actually win against her unless she thought I was on her side.” Zuko laughed. “I can’t believe I did that! I – I actually – I…” Zuko’s voice trailed off.

Katara finished healing Aang. She then moved over to Zuko and whacked his arm before pulling him into a hug.

“Katara – can you just – leave me alone for a bit, please?” His voice cracked just a little. He looked as if he were about to cry. “I’m not ever going home after this…”

Katara settled herself next to him. He was relieved she didn’t leave.

---

Zuko finally started to fully process what he’d done. He had attacked and injured Azula; held her hostage; threatened her; mishandled and disrespected the crown, and he’d officially sided himself with the Avatar.

He had effectively betrayed the Fire Nation.

Azula had offered him a chance and he’d thrown it back in her face.

He was never going home, now.

There was a part of him that was bitter, and it viciously berated him for throwing it all away. How could he have been so stupid?!

But then a logical part of him began pointing out the obvious: Azula always lies.

Because Azula never offered anything out of the goodness of her heart. There was always a catch. She wasn’t a messenger.

‘You could have gone home a hero. Father would have welcomed you back with open arms.’

But Azula had shot Aang down.

(That wasn’t supposed to happen. Even when Zuko was trying to do the right thing, it still went wrong.)

If that had been Azula’s plan, their victory would have been something she held over him – the threat of Father finding out that Zuko hadn’t been part of it… He would have been at Azula’s every whim. She would have wanted something for his help.

If he’d chosen to go with her – he had no guarantee of Uncle still be alive. Getting anything from her would have required jumping through complicated hoops and hoping he landed just right.

Father had burned him, sent him on a hopeless quest, would only take him back as a prisoner…

‘You made a mistake.’

Zuko hugged his knees in a pathetic attempt at hiding his face because how humiliating it was to break down in front of everyone like this. He fought to control his breathing.

There was no coming back from this.

‘What an idiot. Why would you choose them over your own family?’

It wasn’t just Katara, though, admittedly, she was a big part of it. Her gentleness, her determination, her fierceness… How she was there when she didn’t have to be.

Sokka, who was intelligent, determined, annoying, but Zuko could consider him a friend even along the same lines as Aki and Hanno.

Toph definitely could be a brat, but she never taunted him; not in the same way Azula did. She listened to him, offered her own unique brand of advice and held nothing back.

Aang was just a kid with far too much responsibility thrust upon his shoulders. He was always so upbeat, it was tiring. But it was also a relief, strangely, and Zuko would never admit out loud that he liked the kid's spirit. 

But Zuko was free from Azula and free from Ozai – was that how he felt? If he felt so much relief at the idea, why did he feel so guilty afterwards?

The others continued talking around him.

===

“We need to meet up with Dad.” Sokka said.

Katara quickly spoke up about the letters being exchanged.

King Kuei pulled a stamp that contained his official seal out of his clothing. “I have secret pockets sewn into all of my clothing. I managed to hide it. They weren’t able to send anything out, thankfully.”

He also excitedly added something about the official seal not being able to be replicated easily.

Bosco grumbled.

“We need a new plan.” Sokka said.

Katara thought for a moment. “Xīn Yuè Bay!”

“What?” Sokka asked.

“Azula – and well – so many people will think we’re going to meet Dad and the other Chiefs. But what if we take the long way ‘round? Xīn Yuè has Waterbenders. And Zuko knows them. We can get new allies there as well!”

Maybe there was a bit of selfishness on her part because Katara also wanted the opportunity to talk to them.

“Xīn Yuè is a neutral territory.” King Kuei said.

“Yes, but no-one expects us to be heading in that direction.”

“Hold up. Other Waterbenders that the jerkbender knows?” Sokka sounded like he was in disbelief.

King Kuei frowned, though. “I don’t think it’d be a good idea if I went to Xīn Yuè Bay…especially after Ba Sing Se has fallen. I’ve never even been outside of my palace, before. It would be in poor taste if I showed up when I needed something. There is a region you could drop me off at, and I’ll send word to the Water Tribe Chiefs as soon as possible so they know about what’s going on. Here.”

King Kuei removed some of his jewelry and royal garments and handed them to Sokka since he was the closest.

“Give that to the Chief of Xīn Yuè Bay and send them my best wishes.”

“Well…we need something…” Sokka pointed out.

“No offense to Prince Zuko, but he’s banished, and you two are Water Tribe, so it should be fine.”

“You want to go to Xīn Yuè?” Zuko asked, finally speaking up. Proving he’d at least been paying some attention. “We’re going to need gifts – more than just…this.”

“Why?” Sokka asked.

“Because showing up empty-handed like saying your very presence is the gift. And we’ll also just look like King Kuei’s messengers. We’ll need to get something more…”

---

They dropped Kuei off at a fairly large and busy town. He’d dressed down, but still. A plain bear certainly would draw a lot of attention, wouldn’t it?

They bought a few spices and Toph had went off on her own somewhere and came back with a couple of earth crystal statues that she had procured with her bending.

And then their group was off, heading towards Xīn Yuè.

===

Azula seethed.

It was an insult! Zuko had managed to get one over on her. He had tricked her!

From her fingertips all the way to her elbow was numb; tingling and prickling unpleasantly like her arm was asleep. She could barely twitch her fingers.

She had offered him a chance to return home, and he had spat in her face.

===

Mai sat glaring at one of her knives as if it had personally offended her.

She swore that she could still feel that globe of water over her head and the way it had nearly gone up her nose as she fought to hold her breath. The pressure of the water had been heavy and shifting.

In the past, Mai had gone along with Azula’s whims because she had been raised to cater to those who had power and influence. She was to be the perfect support; be whatever the person wanted…

Sure, Mai may have had a crush on Zuko at one point – he had been nice to her – had treated her like she was his equal and hadn’t demanded ridiculous and dangerous things of her. She had liked that about him.

She had been set to marry him, one day. She would provide her family with power and influence, and she would rule the Fire Nation. She would be the perfect girlfriend and wife, and be the one to tell Zuko exactly what he wanted and needed to hear.

But life didn’t always work out.

Zuko had left her behind, more than once. Bastard.

Mai’s scowl deepened.

Tom-Tom had been one thing – her replacement. To demand that others die for their cause, even though he was a child, as Azula had that right. Azula had judged that their opponents weren’t killers and had taken that risk.

Azula never gambled. She’d only take such a risk if she knew for sure that she would win.

Mai had followed along, followed every demand perfectly. She had made sure to do so to ensure that sacrificing her would be far too heavy of a loss.

She wasn’t Ty Lee. Azula didn’t have to toy with her for Mai to follow her demands.

Azula had gambled with her life.

Azula had been willing to throw her away. Being around someone like Azula (especially Azula) revealed quite a bit about other people. Mai had no doubt that the Water Tribe girl absolutely would have killed her if it meant the Avatar could escape.

It was a betrayal. Mai had followed along perfectly, and it wasn’t enough. Maybe willingly sacrificing her life for Azula would have been one thing.

Back then, Zuko had been so easy for Azula to manipulate. He’d been gullible for as long as Mai had known him.

Azula had simply assumed that Zuko was still as gullible.

She hadn’t anticipated Zuko holding a knife to her throat. Azula was bruised and she had a bandage on her neck.

Maybe she didn’t know Zuko as well as she liked to claim.

The look on his face – she’d been near-drowning and Zuko hadn’t helped her. He’d glanced at her – beyond her, to that Water Tribe girl.

Things had clearly spiraled out of Azula’s control. Zuko had tricked her and held a knife to her throat and Mai was nearly drowned. It had been so unexpected that Azula had clearly been caught off guard. Maybe she had planned for Zuko to betray her, but she hadn’t planned for Zuko to go about it how he had. Hadn’t accounted for the Water Tribe girl to take such a risk.

But Azula had gambled with her life.

If Azula gambled, she was not sure of the outcome.

As Azula ranted about this loss, Mai sighed.

It cut off Azula’s rant.

“Do you have something to say, Mai?” she snapped.

“I guess you just don’t know people as well as you think you do.”

Mai wasn’t looking at Azula when she said this. Perhaps that was why Azula didn’t strike her.

Whatever.

Mai walked away and didn’t look back.

Chapter Text

As Appa flew towards Xīn Yuè, Katara worked on healing sessions with Aang. He hadn’t woken up. Other than a few small groans whenever they had to move him, he didn’t make any other sounds.

Zuko was quiet. But he massaged Aang’s scars and flexed his limbs.

“Uncle and the healer on our ship taught me how to use firebending to help the healing process,” Zuko explained as he focused on the task at hand.

Katara didn’t know if she should ask or not.

“I’m okay,” he insisted, without prompting on anyone’s part. “I just need to keep busy.”

---

Their campfires were different, now. Not just because Zuko was there. But because they didn’t know if Aang would wake up. If he didn’t, what were they supposed to do? He wasn’t dead – but – what of the Avatar Spirit itself?

Sokka tried to joke a little, to get their spirits up, but it all was falling flat.

Katara did smile a little when she saw that Zuko managed to enlist Toph’s help to set up camp. She made a makeshift table for them to sit at, a small hearth for cooking, and walls so that they had protection from the elements. It made her chuckle to herself as she thought of how it would have annoyed her that Toph listened to Zuko without argument; before she and Zuko were... whatever they were, now.

Maybe it depended on what they were asking Toph to do.

Zuko volunteered first watch, even though it didn’t seem necessary. They had the walls surrounding them.

Sokka and Toph’s snoring rivaled the night’s other sounds. Wild creatures that wandered this part of the Earth Kingdom.

Katara was exhausted but could only doze off and on. She kept having dreams of Aang falling and not waking up; or Zuko running off with Azula; or Azula was striking Zuko down.

When Katara woke up, she saw that Zuko was still awake; staring into their campfire.

“You should get some sleep,” Katara said, sitting down next to him.

Zuko briefly glanced at her. “…I think you need it more than I do.”

Katara hummed non-committedly. “Can’t sleep. I keep having dreams about…well, you know.”

“Yeah.”

She listened to the breathing of her sleeping friends and the crackling of the fire. It moved in time with Zuko’s breath.

“Do you regret it?” Katara finally asked.

Zuko didn’t turn to look at her, and the fire didn’t falter.

“No, but a part of me feels like I should.” Zuko admitted quietly. “Like, some voice keeps telling me all the reasons why choosing you over my family was the worst decision I could have ever made. But then, there’s the logical part that tells me why choosing to side with Azula would have been a terrible idea.”

He chuckled wryly. “And then the argument starts all over again.”

“Everything will be okay.” Katara said. Because she desperately needed to believe it. “Aang will wake up. We’ll stop the War, and everyone will get to go home. You’ll find your uncle and see your mom’s garden again. I’ll start that waterbending school and we’ll rebuild the South. Those are the goals that drive us forward, and give us reasons to keep going.”

“A reason to keep going, huh.”

Zuko reached over and gripped Katara’s hand in his.

The firelight reflected in his gold eyes and brought out the brown highlights of his hair.

His unmarred cheek colored slightly as he looked at her.

“You – you’re another reason.”

Katara’s face felt hot, and her tummy did happy flip-flops.

“I…I could give you a few more?” Did that sound silly? It sounded good in her head.

She and Zuko slowly began to lean towards each other. A groan and Sokka’s muttering made them freeze. He adjusted in his bed as he muttered something about meat and Momo not eating all of it.

Katara quickly pecked Zuko on the cheek. “Let’s get to bed.”

After they settled down, she slotted herself against Zuko, feeling better and more secure knowing that he was here, next to her.

---

She was woken up by Zuko early the next day.

Zuko prepared breakfast, while Katara worked on healing Aang.

---

The ocean slowly began to take on a blue-green tint, and Katara probably would have appreciated it more if she weren’t feeling so drained and anxious.

It was mid-morning the next day that Katara saw them – huts on the water. There were scatterings of them throughout the area, separated by miles of ocean. She also spotted what she guessed were rock caves.

And then – she could see people far below on the water.

“There are different factions of Wet-Foot,” Zuko explained. “They control the oceans in this area. Some will trade goods as payment for passing through their waters.”

It was beautiful out here. Though, Katara was starting to feel very warm in her clothing.

A strange, spiraling tower stuck out of the water. When they got closer and they could see it clearly, both Katara and Sokka let out a gasp.

Fire Nation ships had been stacked on top of each other. Several kinds of birds had made the macabre tower their home.

They flew towards an island that was vaguely crescent-shaped. Beyond the island were twisted-looking mountains, and a large, flat plane that had dark valleys running through it. Beyond that was the desert – though according to the map that was Tǔ Zhūxióng desert.

“That place nearly rivals the Si Wong desert.” Sokka commented.

There was an amount of elation on Katara’s part as she spotted more Waterbenders on land and in the water. Everyone was staring at them, now.

Appa landed with a loud groan by the port. He was clearly fatigued and just about collapsed on the ground where he stood.

Katara glanced around, taking in the sight of so many Waterbenders – she could have cried for joy if the circumstances of their arrival had been better. This was so exciting! There was so much to look forward to and learn –

“Oh, sweet Tui and La!” a feminine voice cried out. “Zuko, is that you?!”

Katara slid down from Appa’s saddle, and she watched as a girl with blue-green eyes and dark skin ran up to Zuko and crashed into him with a full-on hug. Something ugly twisted up into Katara’s stomach when the girl hugged Zuko. He had to brace himself as he caught her. Zuko the absolute ass that he was returned the hug! Admittedly though, it wasn’t like he could help it.

The girl pulled away then, smiling widely, showing off her dimples. The girl casually touched Zuko’s upper arms, the nerve!

 She had an interesting mix of beaded braids in her hair. It wasn’t clear if the beads held some significance or if it was simply for style. Her two-piece outfit visibly showed off toned muscles; she wore bone and seashell jewelry on her wrists and on an ankle, and above all else – Katara noticed – how pretty this girl was – and how tall. She was nearly the same height as Zuko, by just a few inches.

Katara had never in her life before thought to compare herself to anyone. But all Katara felt that she could see was how much she suddenly didn’t measure up to this stranger. Katara’s hair was messy; her clothes were torn and dirty, and she really needed a decent bath. She wasn’t as tall or as stylish as this girl was.

Rationally, she shouldn’t feel lesser.

She shouldn’t be feeling like this at all.

So, why?

Katara wasn’t really thinking when she marched up to introduce herself.

“This is Katara,” Zuko said.

The girl smiled at Katara. “It’s so nice to meet you, I’m Tǎ.”

Maybe jealousy and tiredness severely skewed her judgement. Before Katara could stop herself and without thinking, she said, “Hi, I’m Zuko’s wife.”

Did she just…?

Oh. Oh, no.

The words echoed hauntingly in Katara’s ears the moment she said them.

Oh, no. No. No!

Why did she say that?! If it were possible, she would have reached out and somehow grabbed the words out of the air before they could reach the other girl’s ears. Katara desperately wished such a monumental task was feasible.

If going back in time were possible, she’d do it.

From behind her, she heard Sokka making nonsensical noises, and Toph was laughing. Katara had no idea what she’d been thinking. Like…had she wanted to stake her claim or something?! Katara would have absolutely hated it if someone had done that to her! She had no right to feel jealous!

Guilt ate away at her for putting Zuko in such a position.

Except…Zuko didn’t bother to correct her.

Katara quickly glanced over at him, trying to apologize with her eyes, but Zuko was staring at her with an expression she couldn’t interpret.

Tǎ gasped loudly, drawing Katara’s attention.

Her entire body reacted, as if energy had traveled from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. Her eyes were filled with tears as she covered her mouth with both hands. She then suddenly gripped both Katara and Zuko in a tight hug with a surprising amount of strength; smushing the three of them together.

The unexpected action practically knocked the wind out of Katara. She even heard Zuko grunt a little.

“I’m so happy for you!” Tǎ exclaimed, pulling away. “I’m like a yappy twin-tailed humming-dog jumping over the moon to land on fluffy clouds!”

“What?” Katara questioned, as her brain reprimanded her actions while simultaneously trying to understand Tǎ.

Tǎ tapped a knuckle against Zuko’s arm.

“Why isn’t that amazing news the first thing you announced, huh?”

“It was um, just…” Zuko fumbled through his words. “…didn’t have the chance to come up?”

Tǎ let out a happy squeal. “Oh, Zuko. I’m so happy for you!”

She then glided over to Sokka and Toph and introduced herself. “Water Tribe! We’re like distant cousins several times removed! You’re practically family already!”

It wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic, but she hugged Sokka as if she were greeting an old friend…just like she had Zuko. Oh…she was just…like that…wasn’t she…? Tǎ then crouched down to hug and speak with Toph. She gripped Toph’s hands in her own and was saying something to her.

“Zuko, I’m so sorry.” Katara was quick to apologize as she whispered. “We can just say it was a very weird and poor joke on my part and you were too caught off guard to respond properly…”

She was willing to look like a thoughtless idiot who made a poor joke at Zuko’s expense.

“I don’t mind…” Zuko whispered back. He smiled a little, looking mischievous. “Were you jealous?”

Getting called out made Katara flush red.

No.

“Yeah...I know, I shouldn’t have…”

His cheeks flushed pink, and his smile looked pleased. He laced his fingers with hers. His breath tickled her ear as he whispered, “Because I’d never cheat on my wife, fake or otherwise.”

Now Katara was blushing, and her heart hammered in her ears. She wanted to kiss Zuko right then and there.

Katara was about to respond but was cut off when Tǎ cried out, “OH!”

Looking over at her, she seemed to vibrate with excitement.

“We’ll get your friend taken care of at the healing hut – but I’ve got an awesome idea! We could have a party to celebrate you, Katara! Aki and Hanno will definitely drag your husband off somewhere. I’ll get my friends and cousins together. And we’ll have food, and do facials, and…”

Tǎ pulled away and held up one of her braids, showing that it was a mix sea-glass and carved bone. “We can put some of these in your hair, but it’ll be very special. Don’t worry, I have some clothes you and Toph can borrow. No offense, but you two look like you’re wearing clothes covered in week-old mud.”

She turned her attention back to Toph. “Your hair is so pretty! I’d love to put some decorations in it if you’ll let me. Here!” Tǎ leaned and held out one of her glass-bead-and-bone-braids so that Toph could feel it.

“…Fine.” Toph said.

“Yay!”

She stood up and faced Katara.

“I’m gonna tell everyone to get ready.” Tǎ said. “Um – the Chief will want to meet you all, so I’ll wait for you outside.”

She then turned and ran off.

“What are you two even doing?” Toph asked. She sounded mischievous.

“What is going on?!” Sokka demanded. He sounded angry.

Just then, a flash of fire drew their attention.

There was a Firebender – he wore the local clothing, had Water Tribe tattoos, and he was working a kiln.

“A Firebender?!” Sokka cried out in shock, and Zuko elbowed him and hissed at him to be quiet.

An old woman approached them. She had tattoos on her face; up and down her arms; and she had several beads and braids in her hair that were meticulously pulled back.

 She also had matching hair ornaments made from carved sea glass and bone, that clipped thick locks of hair at her temples. From the way she looked down to the way she carried herself, this woman was the Chief.

“Do you have a problem with my Tribe, boy?” she asked in a near-clipped tone.

Zuko ran forward and practically shoved Sokka down into a bow.

“Please, forgive Sokka’s ignorance, Chief Plālomā,” Zuko said, also bowing. “He did not know the full details about Xīn Yuè’s Tribe. I didn’t tell him.”

“Hmm. See that you share pertinent info in the future, young Prince. I wouldn’t want anyone to get…” she sent Sokka a look, “unnecessarily reprimanded because of ignorance.”

If Katara didn’t know any better, she’d say that comment housed a threat.

She motioned, “Hurry up and take that boy to the healing hut. And get that beast somewhere no-one can see it.”

The villagers moved quickly to follow her orders.

She turned back to Katara and the others. “Follow me.”

“There are Firebenders here?” Sokka whispered.

“Yes, but they are not Fire Nation.” Zuko said quickly. “Don’t call them otherwise.”

----  

They presented Chief Plālomā with their gifts, and she gave a polite nod in thanks.

But the Chief was clearly a practical woman because she got right down to business as to why they were here.

The more she heard, the more she looked displeased. The wrinkles in her face emphasized her displeasure.

“The banished Fire Prince is one thing; the Avatar is another.” She did not look happy as she clicked her tongue. “Xīn Yuè is neutral – do you understand what that means? The Avatar being here; you being the Avatar’s allies by extension violates that neutrality.

“The Fire Nation has agreed to leave the Wet-Foot Tribes alone if they can safely traverse our waters. If the Fire Nation knew that you were here, they would have every right to attack us.”

She glared disapprovingly.

“And not only that, but you also want me to give you Waterbenders to fight in this War?! Us being neutral means my people stay safe.”

“It was my suggestion –” Zuko started to say.

“This was my idea –” Katara spoke at the same time.

“But people are dying –" Sokka said.

Toph stayed quiet, with a frown on her face.

Chief Plālomā continued, cutting them off. “Do you even realize how much Xīn Yuè relies on the surrounding Wet-Foot Tribes for trade and protection? Because if it’s found out that we’re violating that treaty – the surrounding Tribes have every right to hand us over to the Fire Nation.”

“I’m sure we can think of something.” Sokka tried. He needed to be a leader, now.

“Each Tribe dictates their own. There’s very little influence we actually have among the Wet-Foot Tribes, and I will do whatever it takes to protect my people.”

The Chief was understandably worried.

Sokka glanced to Katara and Zuko. Mostly Zuko because he’d met the Chief before.

Zuko nodded. “Chief Plālomā, I understand you’re worried. But they…we’re desperate. Ships can be provided to transport those who are willing to go.”

“…You don’t have your own ships?” Sokka asked. It then occurred to him that he hadn’t seen any ships at the harbor when they flew in.

“There has to be a way.” Sokka said, trying to be more optimistic than he felt. “I can talk to my dad and the other Chiefs.”

Chief Plālomā scowled. She walked over to the window. “Come look at this.”

They all got up to look. Outside, they could see the ocean and the desert.

“The only trees we have are fruit trees. There’s the ocean; with the Tribes where we aren’t allowed to go because our feet have touched the ground. There are forests; but they belong to the Tribes, where we are not allowed to go. Why should they provide anything to the war effort when they have agreed to stay out of it?

“There’s the desert. There are the valleys where the ground is far too unstable for anyone; even Earthbenders to bend safely. It could collapse and crush everyone.”

Her voice picked up with a certain intensity and fear.

“I have Firebenders. Tell me: we leave this place, where exactly are they supposed to go where they won’t be ostracized just because of the Element they bend?!”

“Chief…” Katara said gently.

“I…I’m sorry.” Sokka said. Katara had told him some of her plan in rebuilding the South, so he was thinking on his feet here. “I understand. But…please. Write up a contract with us. If you allow us to have some of your Benders – the South will give you support. Boats, transportation, and goods.

“Katara wants to start a bending school and we want to rebuild the South, and well, we’ll need Benders for that.”

“If the Wet-Foot Tribes dictate their own, then our trade with solely be with Xīn Yuè, wouldn’t it?” Katara said quickly.

“You said you had very limited influence…” Zuko added. “Though – depending on how things go, we might have to strike up deals with a few of the other Tribes to ensure they don’t try to circumvent the contract.”

He then looked at them. “I think…if somehow, this works out…the Fire Nation could trade with the Wet-Foot Tribes while Xīn Yuè and the South have free negotiations – and the Fire Nation by extension.”

 Chief Plālomā didn’t look happy. But it was a fact that much of her options were limited.

“…Fine.” She was clearly reluctant. It must have felt like an insult to her pride that she had to rely so much on outside sources. She got a scroll and a pen. “Let us negotiate our contract.”

----

They made their way out of the Chief’s hut by early afternoon.

Katara yawned loudly.

“That woman is intense.” Toph said.

“She’s scary!” Sokka said.

“She’s…” Zuko said. “She cares about her people.”

“Hey, there, Zuko.”

They stopped and looked up. A guy was sitting casually on one of the lower outcroppings of rocks. He had slightly darker skin, dark hair, and dark blue eyes. Next to him stood Tǎ and another girl.

“I see you also finally got rid of that shaved ostrich-horse’s ass haircut. The only reason I recognized you is because of the,” he motioned to the left side of his face, “…scowl.”

He laugh-snorted at his joke.

Sokka laughed. “That’s such a good description!”

Zuko shoved Sokka a little, which only made him smirk and chuckle even more about Zuko’s old hairstyle.

From his bored drawl alone, Katara guessed that this must be Akihar – Zuko actually did a pretty good impression of him.

He hopped down and casually walked over. He grinned lopsidedly, revealing slightly crooked teeth. Akihar was a full head taller than Zuko was. Personally, he was the type that Katara would have found herself wanting to closer to; along the same lines as she had with Jet and Haru.

But with Zuko right there… he didn’t really compare. The thought made her blush, and she hoped it wasn’t evident.

“It’s good to see you.” Zuko smiled. Tired, happy, and relieved. He then did a sort of fist-bump/Water Tribe-handshake thing with Akihar.

“Same. I heard you got married.”

Zuko nodded and quickly introduced all of them to Akihar, and his sister, Miruka. Katara smiled tightly and kicked Sokka’s leg as he grumbled under his breath and Toph was clearly intending to say or do something that riled up the situation even more.

Miruka had blue eyes and freckles, and from the way she was looking at Zuko – Katara had the distinct feeling that it was attraction on the other girl’s part.

Her smile didn’t really reach her eyes as she said to Katara, and there was a hint of sadness. “Your necklace is really pretty.”

“…Thank you,” Katara responded.

“Call me Aki if you want,” he told the others.

“You’re seriously letting them call you ‘Aki’?” Miruka asked with a familiar sibling-like teasing. “What ever happened to,” she briefly changed her tone of voice imitating Aki as she said, “It’s Akihar. Only my friends call me Aki, and you aren’t my friend.”

Aki visibly cringed before he said, “Oh, hey. Miruka used to have the biggest crush on you, Zuko. If we had known you were into Water Tribe women, we could have gotten our bid in.”

Aki elbowed Zuko with a mischievous smirk, while Toph let out a “Ha!”

Zuko visibly blushed and muttered something incoherent.

Miruka flushed red and began punching Aki’s chest and arms. “Why would you say that?!”

He just laughed. “I thought we were telling embarrassing stories about each other.”

So...her assumption had been correct.

She bent a water whip at him, and Aki easily bent through it with a chop of his hand.

Tǎ looked at them and shook her head. She had several neatly folded pairs of clothes in her arms.

“Anyway, here’s some clothing – I’m afraid I got a little ahead of myself…do you want to have the party tonight, or tomorrow?”

“Oh…tomorrow…” Katara looked to the others for confirmation, “Tomorrow would be better I think.”

“Okay!” Tǎ looked to Aki and Miruka. “Come on, you two. Act your ages, will you? We have to show them where they’ll be staying.”

---

They began walking, and Miruka hung back and easily made conversation with Toph.

Tǎ and Zuko were talking about her brother – who couldn’t come out to see them just yet because he was busy with something.

“Nice to meet you, Aki. Zuko was telling me so much about you.” Katara said. “That water orb thing – I’ve practiced it, but I can’t really get the hang of it…”

“Oh?” Aki raised a brow.

“I keep crushing the melons I’ve practiced on…I can control the water for a few minutes, but then it strains my arms and well…”

“Because you’re trying to control how the water moves, and not letting it naturally take the shape of the thing you’re putting the orb on.”

He waterbent a small stream of water to himself and used the water to pick up a few pebbles and made an orb. The control was so casual and done with such ease, Katara found herself envious.

“You know how there’s underwater currents, right?”

He swirled the pebbles in the center of the orb, his fingers moved as if he were playing a musical instrument.

“Let the water take shape, and then control the currents. It’s basically how you can imitate water pressure with just this much water. There’re air pockets, like this, see?” one of the pebbles stopped moving with the others, and Katara could see a small air pocket inside the water.

“Learn to control currents in an orb like this, and you won’t be crushing stuff so fast. It really refines your abilities.”

When she had been up North, trying to learn anything had been a fight. But Aki shared like it was nothing – even though he sounded bored while explaining.

Katara wanted to practice right then and there – but felt too drained, which was disappointing.

“Are you from up North?” Aki asked.

“The South, actually,”

Aki made a face, then. “So, Zuko proposed using Northern customs?”

“Actually, this was my mother’s.” Katara explained, touching her fingers to the cool stone. “We got married in the Earth Kingdom.”

“What do they use in the South?”

“It depends on the Tribe.” Which was true, but Katara wasn’t really sure exactly how proposals were made in her Tribe. It hadn’t really been something any of them focused on because of well…everything.

Looking around, she could see that the people had carved out their homes into the rocks which had been beautifully smoothed out. There were stone bridges that crossed over the water which led out to other stone huts.

They followed the trio who pointed out the bathhouse, a small restaurant, the healing hut where Aang was staying, and a few other interesting places.

While their temporary dwellings were connected, Katara and Zuko had been given their own room, with Toph and Sokka having small rooms of their own as well.

And Sokka was clearly stewing, given his red ears. He wanted to say something so badly but couldn’t.

Toph was clearly enjoying the entire thing a little too much.

Aki, Miruka, and Tǎ said their goodbyes and promised to meet with them tomorrow.

Once Katara and the others had all gotten cleaned up, they practically collapsed into their beds.

----

When Katara had claimed they were married, Zuko was so taken off-guard, he hadn’t known how to respond.

She was quickly apologetic, but Zuko found that he didn’t mind.

Admittedly, perhaps it was a bit weird, but a part of him was flattered by the fact that Katara had wanted to continue their “marriage” even though there was no reason to do so.

Maybe it wasn’t necessarily a lie.

---

Early the next day, after being able to finally rest, Katara and the others went to see Aang.

He was lying in a pool of water surrounded by Healers. It was an entire process, one explained, where they massaged and healed his muscles to keep them from atrophying. They said he was extremely lucky that the lightning hadn’t hit his heart.

But he was breathing on his own, and his heartbeat was strong, which was promising.

It was too close, Katara thought. If only she were a better Healer, then maybe...

“You did what you could.” Zuko assured her. “It was enough.”

“It’ll be okay, Katara.” Sokka added.

Toph pulled Katara away from the boys for a moment. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Sweetness.”

Katara thanked her friends. She wasn't alone in this.

Chapter Text

After checking on Aang, they arrived back at their temporary residence when Zuko was practically tackled by a guy while Aki stood by looking bored.

“I heard you got married!” he spoke with unnecessary loudness.

He was clearly Tǎ’s brother, given how much they looked alike, and how he had hugged Zuko.

“Hi!” he greeted Katara and the others unnecessarily loudly. “I’m Hanno.”

Aki jabbed his elbow into Hanno’s side. “You’re yelling.”

Hanno lowered his voice to a normal level. “It’s nice to meet you – I hope you don’t mind us stealing your husband for a bit.”

Zuko gave Katara a smile and kissed her forehead, causing her to blush.

Sokka muttered under his breath.

Toph snickered.

“Ugh, married people.” Aki said, looking somewhat annoyed, though there wasn’t any bite behind his words and he had a small smile.

After Zuko was dragged away by his friends, Katara spotted Miruka who was walking up to their hut. She gave a friendly wave and smiled at Katara.

“Hey, there – can we – can we talk?”

“…Sure.”

Toph wanted to explore something she had spotted with her seismic sense, so she wandered off and promised that she’d be back later.

---

Miruka led Katara to a small area where they could look out at the ocean and see the locals. She also handed Katara half of something that was called a coconut which was mixed with lime-berries.

The texture was admittedly odd, but it was tangy and sweet.

Other than asking if she liked the dessert, Miruka didn’t say much. She did show Katara how to use her waterbending to slightly freeze the dessert to make a slushy mixture, but the silence was…a bit awkward. Katara wasn’t sure if it was just her.

Miruka sat across from Katara and picked at the shell of her scraped-clean coconut shell with her fingernail.

“You know…” Miruka finally broke the silence. “When Tǎ said that Zuko was back, I was so happy…but then she also said that he was married.”

Her smile was sad and small. “I can’t tell you how much I didn’t want it to be true…but the way Zuko looks at you. He never looked at me like that.”

Katara could only nod, not sure what she should say. A part of her felt almost guilty, because her “marriage” to Zuko wasn’t real. Like she had potentially stolen something, even though there didn’t seem to be any reciprocating feelings on Zuko’s part.

Miruka sighed and shrugged, “I can be happy for someone else’s happiness even if it’s not with me.”

She huffed a little. It wasn’t exactly a laugh. “Back then, I made a right idiot of myself trying to get his attention. I um, even broke my arm trying to show off, just to get Zuko to notice me…”

Katara stared at her wide-eyed. “You did?”

Miruka snorted. “Of course, it didn’t work. He wasn’t even looking when it happened. And there was absolutely no way I was going to admit that I got hurt doing something so stupid. My siblings would never let me live it down. So, like a dumbass I lied and said I got injured trying out some new bending trick I was working on.

“To top off the mountain of embarrassing shit pile I had pretty much dived headfirst into, my siblings, cousins, and friends were pretty much all,” Miruka raised the pitch of her voice into a mocking tone, “Show us the waterbending form you were trying to do. Maybe we can figure out a way to make it work so you don’t get injured.”

Miruka’s voice went back to slightly normal,

“You have no idea how embarrassing it is to make up a stupid waterbending form that’s complicated enough to explain an injury just because not only did I have to back up the lie, but now, people were helping!”

Miruka groaned.

“…So…did you make a new form?”

Miruka blushed a little. “Yes. I can show you, if you want.”

Katara excitedly agreed, and she followed Miruka down to the ocean where they could stand in the shallows of a rocky outcropping.

Miruka took a stance and breathed. Then, she went through a series of twisting kicks and flips, pulling at the water. It almost reminded Katara of firebending, in a way; with a pseudo-earthbending influence.

Miruka used the water to make a series of platforms for herself to push off from several feet into the air, into a twisting flip, before bringing a rain of ice spikes down with a mighty splash.

“That was amazing…” Katara said, genuinely awed.

“It better be. I got my heart and my wrist broken creating it.”

Miruka grinned. Her freckles highlighted her smile.

Katara laughed.

“Can you show me?”

Miruka went back into the starting stance. “Part of the trick is that you’re bending with your feet, bringing all this water around you…like this. You know how you move water with your hands?”

Katara copied her.

---

Katara was exhausted but thrilled. She wasn’t used to the timing just yet, and she never had to focus on using her feet so much. Bending the water with their feet gave the user a boost for speed and height. There was a timing to it – and getting the twisting and kicking movements in – this was just – so wonderful.

She didn’t feel the usual frustrations of not getting it. Not like when she was first starting. Miruka was there to guide and correct her.

As they sat and relaxed in the shade, Katara turned towards Miruka.

“What…what made you like Zuko?” Katara asked.

Miruka grinned, blush coloring her cheeks. “Scars are what make a man! They are so cool!”

She faced Katara with obvious enthusiasm. “And Zuko’s is right on his face – I – love it! And Firebenders are so passionate – and I just love the color of their eyes.”

“There’s no other guys here that you like?”

“Please, the boys here can’t possibly handle all this,” Miruka motioned to herself. 

This must be what normalcy was like, Katara thought. Like if the War wasn’t happening. She could sit and excitedly talk about boys and waterbending and whatever else with someone close to her age.

Their conversation seemed to flow so easily from there. From talking about boys to talking about their families and bending, to talking about their goals and dreams.

“I’ve never seen snow, before – well, sort of. My mom’s made a snowball a few times. But I’ve always wanted to actually see it – covering the ground and not melting.”

“…You could always come to the South.” Katara offered.

“Find me a way to get there, and I’ll take you up on it.”

Miruka showed off a few more katas, and Katara observed. Wet-Foot bending had flowing, sharp movements. Katara followed and then she was showing off her own.

When Katara told her about all the frustrations up North of having to fight to learn, Miruka frowned at her.

“Seriously? They don’t teach girls how to fight? And the boys – what – do they not teach them how to heal?” She sounded far more perplexed than judgmental. “But…what if there’s a serious accident, or something?”

Katara shrugged.

Miruka then told Katara, “You know – there’s these tiny jellyfish-eels that live around here. Their stings are extremely poisonous and painful. My sister would have died if none of the guys who were out with her knew how to heal. What would they say to that?”

Katara mockingly copied what some Northerner very likely might say and repeated some of what she’d been told. “Then she shouldn’t have been out there in the first place! Women’s places are in the homes and healing huts!”

“What if it was all guys, though? What then? Ah, too bad! Let him lose the leg or let him die. It was his time?! What if there were no guys and it was all women? What are they supposed to do? Violently splash the threat?”

“I know, right?” Katara said, unleashing her frustration into those three words. The story of Miruka’s sister completely justified the necessity of everyone knowing how to heal and fight.

---

Some time later, they met up with Toph and Miruka led them to where Tǎ was having the party.

===

Aki and Hano had led Zuko to the cavern underneath the Salt Flats; which was what separated the village from Tǔ Zhūxióng desert. It was a surreal-looking place; large but thick platforms were precariously balanced on thin spires of earth. Down below, the sand was far too soft and loose for any Earthbenders to bend safely even if they were working together.

Sunlight filtered through the slats, showing that birds and other animals had made the cavern their home.

Legend had it that an Avatar had created the place; another said that a sudden earthquake had drained all the water that was initially there out into the ocean.

Here, it was peaceful.

Zuko could talk to Hanno and Aki without someone disturbing them.

He was curious though, why Hanno was yelling.

Aki sounded irritated as he explained, “He got injured doing some stupid trick using blasting jelly – and didn’t tell anyone. He decided to just sleep it off and by the time anyone realized there was a problem it was too late.”

“The explosion was really cool, though.” Hanno said with a proud smile.

Catching up over the past three years was nice.

Aki had stopped doing the whole, ‘It’s Akihar, only my friends call me Aki’ thing. He visibly, painfully groaned.

“It’s like one day you wake up and realize how stupid you sound. For over three effing years! I swear, the only reason my entire family barely protested me being a brat was to see how long I’d go on for just to give me shit about it later.”

When asking about his life after leaving their island Zuko felt like that needed an explanation. But then, those explanations needed backstories with more backstory.

Aki and Hanno knew that he’d been banished, but not why.

So, he started a bit from the beginning. Talking about it was easier the second time.

There were some things he left out though, but Zuko did admit that he and Katara were initially on opposite sides.

He told them about the North – and that was an exclamation of “That’s what happened?”

The conversation slightly detoured because the cousins told Zuko how freaky that night had been – a bloodred sky that went to a colorless one. How the Waterbenders were lucky that none of them had drowned or been injured.

The conversation than shifted back to that day – of Azula and the hope of going home; but realizing they were prisoners and Zuko having to leave Uncle behind. How he didn’t know if Uncle was even alive or not.

Of how he later met Katara in the Earth Kingdom and here – Zuko felt somewhat guilty for the lie even though it wasn’t exactly becoming a lie anymore – their marriage of convenience that had become so much more. The fall of Ba Sing Se and his betrayal of Azula, Ozai, and the Fire Nation.

“Full offense, Zuko, but your dad sounds like an asshole.” Hanno said.

“Your dad sounds like the kind of guy who’d publicly flaunt his dick if he could get away with it.” Aki said.

Zuko tried to purge the unwelcome intrusive thought that invaded his brain. “Thank you, Aki, for that mental image.”

“The point is, what can he get away with? He’s smart – he didn’t simply burn your face and kick you out. Twisted logic, but he had a justified reason for doing so and no-one could exactly call him out on it.” Aki replied with a shrug. “So – your uncle’s both a war hero and a prince, right? Can your dad justifiably kill or even torture him publicly or secretly without causing a scandal or an uprising?”

“I didn’t think about it like that.” Zuko admitted. He’d been so focused on the worst-case scenario.

 The chances of Uncle simply being locked in a prison and not chained up with broken or amputated limbs somewhere where the sun didn’t shine was increasingly low.

Maybe Zuko could still find him.

Afterwards, their conversation moved on to Katara. Zuko easily talked about her – the ways she had helped him and how amazing she was and why. Her compassion and her fury, the ways she cared so much it could almost be a fault, but that was what made her wonderful.

She was always caring for other people and had compassion for strangers and even the enemy.

It was both easy and difficult to explain why giving up his chance to finally go home was truly worth it.

How she already had amazing and impossible goals in mind – her dream to revitalize waterbending in the South and rebuild…

“You’re such a sap, it’s disgusting.” Aki told him, giving Zuko’s shoulder a shove. There was no bite behind his words.

“Honeymoon phase.” Hanno nodded sagely.

“Well, let’s go.” Aki motioned to them.

“Uh, where are we going?” Zuko asked as he stood up.

“Hunting,” Aki said with a shrug. “Whenever a man here is getting married, he hunts and brings back what he’s caught to show he can provide for his wife and the village.”

“The girls are having their thing, you should too. You even get to gut whatever you catch!” Hanno grinned and slapped Zuko’s back.

“Joy.” Zuko said flatly and followed after the cousins.

===

Sokka sighed. “I guess it’s just you and me, buddy.”

Momo tilted his head and chittered.

He grumbled a bit under his breath about Katara and Zuko somehow getting this whole village thinking they were freaking married! This would blow up in their faces if they weren’t careful.

With nothing better to do, Sokka wandered over to the cave where Appa was staying. The opening was large, and the back half was low. Appa was using the ceiling to scratch his back.

Momo immediately went to investigate to see if any food had been left behind. Sokka knew because he understood that feeling.

By this time, Katara and Toph were probably already at that stupid party. And Zuko had been dragged off to wherever doing whatever with his friends. And Aang…maybe he should just drop by and see Aang, again.

Just in case.

A part of him felt slightly pathetic because he was hanging out here with Appa and Momo.

He sketched out some battle plans in the dirt.

“Hello? Sokka?”

Sokka quickly stood up to see Akihar standing outside the cave. The older boy was scowling at him.

“…You have fishbones and leaves in your hair.” Akihar said after a moment.

Sokka quickly brushed the stuff out of his hair as he scowled at Momo, the culprit.

“Um, Akihar…can I help you?”

“Call me Aki. We’re going fishing.” Akihar – well, Aki said flatly. “It’ll probably be hours of sitting and doing nothing and’ll likely be horrible. You want to join us?”

Join the fishing party?

Sokka quickly stood up. “Sure!”

He then realized how high-pitched and too eager he sounded. He needed to sound more…manly. Yeah. Sokka cleared his throat.

Sokka made his voice deeper. “Sure.”

Aki raised a brow. “Whatever. Let’s go. The others are waiting for us.”

Aki turned and started walking, and Sokka hurried to keep up with Aki’s longer strides.

“Can you swim?”

“I’m an excellent swimmer,” Sokka said, bragging slightly.

“This is serious,” Aki said. “Can you swim in the ocean while also hunting and defending yourself with a spear or a dagger? Can you use both?”

“…I’ve only swam in lakes…and hunted fish in a canoe and on riverbanks.”

“I’ll make an ice platform for you, then. I’m not going to risk you drowning, getting seriously injured or even eaten. Or losing a limb.” Aki stated. “And we have a spear you can use.”

“A spare spear, huh? Huh?” Sokka said with a grin and pointing at Aki. Aki’s eyebrows furrowed, making Sokka feel like he was getting judged far more harshly than he ever had before for that joke.

Sokka awkwardly cleared his throat. “Oh…thanks. I appreciate it…”

Aki shrugged.

“Hopefully your fishing skills are better than your jokes.”

“Hey! My fishing skills are awesome.”

---

When Sokka had been up North, he’d tried to get involved with the guys. Hahn especially had given Sokka a hard time about being from the South. Hahn and several others had mocked his ideas, and outside of the training grounds they very purposefully excluded him and went out of their way to make sure he knew it.

He didn’t admit to Katara how much it had hurt to be left out. While he did tell her about what a jerk Hahn and the others had been he had, he never told her everything that had gone on.

---

Looking around, there were several groups of people of both men and women who were also heading out to fish.

“Finally! You guys got here!” Hanno yelled.

Zuko waved at Sokka.

“He wasn’t at the house.” Aki replied with a shrug. “I had to go looking.”

It took Sokka a moment to realize what Aki meant by that.

Aki picked up a bone-spear and handed it to Sokka.

“Thanks, Aki.” Sokka said, not necessarily talking about the spear.

Aki raised an eyebrow. “…It’s just a spear.”

He then motioned to a boy who was sitting in the boat, “This is my brother, Kyo.”

Kyo had yellow-brown eyes and he didn’t really smile at Sokka.

“Hi,” he muttered a greeting, picking at the leather cords tied around his spear.

“Nice to meet you,” Sokka said as he and the others clamored into the boat.

“Yeah.” Kyo replied unenthusiastically.

Sokka wondered if it was just him, or if Kyo didn’t want Sokka there.

“Kyo carved the spears,” Zuko said, saving Sokka from the plaguing awkwardness. “I was just telling him that this is beautiful work.”

“Yeah,” Sokka agreed, holding his up. “The balance is great.”

“Thanks.” Kyo muttered.

(Was it just him who felt the whole interaction was awkward?)

“We’re heading out a bit farther than the others,” Aki said as he waterbent their small boat through the water. “We need to catch something big.”

“Okay…why?” Sokka asked.

“There’s nothing like that here.” Hanno said, frowning slightly at Sokka. Sokka frowned back, not understanding what Hanno was saying.

“He’s asking why we’re heading out.” Zuko clarified, speaking up.

“To celebrate Zuko’s marriage.” Kyo said, slightly more loudly than before with a tone of “obviously, duh”.

“Oh, okay.” Hanno said.

Sokka nearly, nearly snapped, wanting to shout that his sister and Zuko absolutely, positively weren’t married. That was his baby sister, after all! But he bit his tongue and kept quiet.

Zuko wouldn’t even look at him. Instead, the jerkbender very conveniently focused on everything else around them.

Aki took them a bit further out than the other fishermen. In the distance, Sokka could see the huts of one of the Wet-Foot factions dotting along the horizon.

They went far enough out they were very near the creepy Fire Nation-ship-tower.

Sokka was reminded of the ship frozen in the ice back home. Although…the tower was a lot more…disturbing.

“What exactly happened there?” Sokka asked for the sake of conversation.

“Some time after the War started, the Fire Nation tried attacking some of the Wet-Foot factions.” Aki said. “Some of the factions were even getting pulled into spats between Earth and Fire ships. A rare occasion happened: the factions basically united together and began capsizing the vessels and drowned everyone on board.”

Sokka grimaced and sent Zuko a side-eyed glance. Zuko didn’t look happy, but he didn’t really look sad, either.

“They slowly built this tower as a warning, and every ship they burned. There are a few Earth ships in there, too. It basically forced everyone to stay out and pretty much trade or pay a tole as long as they didn’t start shit in the Wet-Foot territories.”

“That’s…horrifying.” Sokka looked at the tower.

Zuko looked up at it, shielding his eyes from the sun. “So many people have died unnecessarily even back then…”

“There are some days you can hear the knocking and screaming of the soldiers trying to escape.” Kyo said, staring intently at Sokka and Zuko.

Sokka had his doubts, but he wasn’t sure if he should take the comment seriously or not. He glanced at Zuko, who was looking at Kyo with the expression of someone who also wasn’t sure if the other boy was being serious or not.

 A beat later, with an unblinking, creepy smile on his face Kyo added, “I was joking. It’s the birds.”

Sokka scowled.

Zuko rolled his eyes.

Hanno bragged rather proudly that he’d jumped from the top of the tower into the water below, once – and had broken his leg and a few ribs in the attempt. And then he laughed.

The guy was crazy.

Aki and Kyo both talked about how their oldest brother and his friends had claimed that you could climb in and swim down through the connecting ships, but neither of them had taken up that claim.

They paused for several minutes. “The bigger fish are usually out this far. Now, we wait to spot something.”

And then, they waited.

Who’d ever think that he would find himself fishing with the former(?) prince of the Fire Nation and his friends?

Conversation just didn’t seem to come naturally to Sokka. He couldn’t even think of what to talk about with Zuko or his friends. What did guys talk about? Were they supposed to talk?

Sokka certainly had his interests, but would everyone think he was boring and ridiculous?

He’d never been around guys his age, before. Well…he sort of had. But those guys were a few years older and had left to fight in the War.

Everyone remained silent, mostly looking out at the water. He could talk about girls! But then the thought that Zuko would talk about Katara in that sense (Ew, ew, ew! He did not want to hear or even think of Katara like that) so that deterred the idea.

So…

The weather?

“It’s uh, pretty warm out here. And lots of water.”

Sokka wondered if it sounded as weird to them as it did to him.

Zuko didn’t say anything, while Aki, Kyo, and Hanno all glanced at him.

“It’s alright.” Hanno replied, mostly indifferent.

“It does get kinda boring, though.” Aki said.

“…How do Southern people live in the cold and snow?” Kyo asked.

Here at least, Sokka could easily share his knowledge. He could talk about hunting, and training the younger boys to fight, and his tower –

“Which you knocked over by the way!”

Zuko rolled his eyes and completely disregarded Sokka's complaint about his tower.

"You couldn't even call that a proper tower." Zuko replied, definitely with an insulting tone. 

Jerkbender...

--

Aki moved their boat a bit further out.

Looking around, Sokka noticed what looked to be a flag poking out of some rocks. They were still a bit too far away for him to make out the details of the pattern.

“What is that?” Sokka asked, pointing.

“Water-Snake-Weasel Tribe warning. We don’t go there.” Aki said, very seriously. “The only time you can go passed that area is if you have the tattoos for--”

Hanno excitedly pointed at something. “Look at that! How about that one?”

Sokka missed whatever Kyo was saying, but he did catch something about a “stupid manta-rabbit?”

They both began talking to each other fiercely under their breathes.

“He can keep the ears, though!”

“That’s dumb. And insulting.”

“You’re dumb!”

Sokka rolled his eyes and he heard Zuko sigh next to him.

Hearing the cousins argue reminded him of Katara getting angry at him. Did he and Katara sound like that to other people?

Looking down, the water was at least clear enough that Sokka could make out shapes. He blinked when he noticed a long, dark sharp glide beneath the water. The backend spread out into several sections –

Suddenly, the boat rocked.

“Stop shoving!” Kyo demanded.

“You started it!”

The boat began to rock violently as the two started shoving at each other.

“Would you two effing cut it out?!” Aki shouted.

Zuko was jostled into Sokka, who was shoved forward where he could look into the water.

Sokka then noticed that the shape he’d seen was suddenly coming closer.

 Much closer.

Very rapidly.

In fact, he could roughly make out a daimond pattern on its tentacles.

“Guys? Guys!” Sokka yelled at the bickering family members. He was trying not to panic.

Zuko stiffened up next to him.

“Aki!” Zuko called. “Aki!”

The panic and near-desperation made Zuko’s voice crack as he yelled. Sokka didn’t care that Zuko had pretty much shouted into his ear.

Aki swore and bent the water and shoved their boat to the side just in time as something large surged up out of the water – Sokka saw three sets of purple-and-green eyes the size of his fist. The creature twisted and spread its diamond-pattern tentacles. He also noticed that the tentacles had several spines that were just as long as his finger.

A pit formed in Sokka’s stomach at the sight of several rows of sharp teeth in its mouth.

The tentacles were spread out above them in a likely attempt to grab them and pull them towards its gaping maw.

“Don’t damage the eyes!” Aki said, sounding excited. “Those things are a delicacy!”

That was the focus right now?!

Aki formed an ice platform that was several feet thick to protect them and the boat. Kyo started cackling like a madman and flames shot from his hand as he struck out at the tentacles. “Come and get me, you fu---!!"

Sokka nearly stopped and stared – this was not the time to be distracted! He focused on the issue at hand: not dying to a squid-shark.

Kyo blasting fire at the tentacles made the squid-shark back off. Hanno threw one of the spears and he managed to pierce the creature’s side. It twisted away from them, and turned back to attack them again.

From what Sokka could make out as the squid-shark circled around them was that it was probably near twenty feet long.

“Mind the teeth and one of you help me with the tentacles!” Aki shouted.

The tentacles twisted wildly out of the water. Sokka managed to duck and dodge.

This was not the time to be distracted!

Zuko dove into the water - Zuko was crazy! (Sokka would make sure to tell him that if they lived)

Hanno had some small rocks attached to a net and began (shockingly) carefully getting the net to wrap around the squid-shark.

Sokka glanced over at the brothers. Kyo seriously looked on the demented side as he pretty much was an annoyance that kept the tentacles targeted towards him.

Aki had started freezing the tentacles in place that Kyo was managing to direct towards him, while Hanno dove into the water – Sokka began to think that maybe he was crazier than Zuko.

Sokka jumped onto the upper half of the squid-shark. This was crazy – this thing was big. He nearly lost his footing and fell forward, his spear stabbing the beast through the back.

Sokka could see blood in the water, and then saw Hanno and Zuko who were perfectly fine.

Suddenly, it rolled and Sokka fell into the ocean.

Sokka kicked so that he was not anywhere near the thrashing creature and any still loose tentacles it decided to send his way.

He noticed that Zuko had managed to get onto the squid-shark’s back, and that he was running.

Sokka realized that the squid-shark was intending to roll again, so kicking his feet, he managed to drive his spear into the creature’s opposite side.

He needed air – just then an air bubble formed around his head. Sokka took several deep breaths and glanced over at Aki.

Grateful, Sokka quickly moved to the surface and the air bubble disappeared.

Breaking through the surface of the water, he noted that Zuko had stabbed his spear through the squid-shark’s back near what looked to be the base of its neck.

A few, short minutes later the squid-shark stopped moving. Working together, they tied their kill to the boat and then Aki simply pulled the water from their clothes.

They headed back to shore and Sokka admittedly had fun – though, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever go after something like a squid-shark ever again.

“It’s really lucky we caught this one,” Kyo said, his voice low and expression perfectly normal and serene.

===

Meanwhile, Katara and Toph were introduced to a flurry of girls. Katara wasn’t sure if she could even remember everyone’s names.

Tǎ’s older sister, Miruka’s sisters (though she said that a few weren’t there because they were too young to attend) along with Miruka’s sister-in-law, and several of their friends.

There were plenty of snacks and drinks (some of which were alcoholic).

“You’re a married woman, of course you can drink,” an older girl said, handing Katara a cup. “Since you aren’t used to it just make sure you eat something and take small sips.”

The food was certainly delicious. There were types of fish and fruit that made Katara moan in delight upon tasting it.

There was plenty of talking about their families, their jobs, everything that they did every day on this island. While they didn’t deal with the same struggles as the Southern Tribe, they still had their own intense work.

Fishing and diving were some of the more dangerous aspects of living here – the wildlife was both carnivorous and poisonous in some cases. They had to rely on some of the other Wet-Foot factions for trade in goods, which only came in when Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation vessels (sometimes even pirates) passed through.

When they started their facials, it was eagerly explained to the guests.

“These are made with mud that you have to dive down into certain areas to get. The texture is lovely. This one has seaweed…”

Katara could tell that Toph was feeling a bit lost with all the options. But naturally, she went for a mud-based one.

As they waited to wash their faces, Tǎ and a few of the other girls gathered around Katara to braid beads into a few sections of her hair.

“That’s so pretty,” one of the girls pointed to Katara’s necklace. If Katara remembered correctly, she was one of Miruka’s sisters. “Did Zuko give you that?”

“Oh…no. This was my mom’s.”

“What did he propose to you with?” another woman asked. She smiled pleasantly, and not like someone who was digging for potential gossip.

“…A ring.” Katara said, smiling and biting down her guilt for all of this. “I…took it off because I didn’t want to lose it.”

Katara still had the cheap ring in her pocket. It was already becoming tarnished.

The woman who had initially asked nodded sagely. “It’s not the ring that matters, it’s the love that comes with it.”

“…Yeah.” Katara slipped the ring back into her pocket. It felt heavy, for some reason. Likely weighing down with guilt.

After a moment Tǎ then said, “You know…would you like to get marriage tattoos with Zuko?” She giggled, “You’d have to talk to him about it first, of course, but – it would be special.”

“Marriage tattoos?” Katara asked.

“Oh, that would be lovely!”

“Can we – is she even allowed to?” another asked.

Tǎ shrugged. “Well…they’re already married. She’s from a sister Tribe, Zuko doesn’t have a country, and my family isn’t official Wet-Foot…so, we could do it without the entire marriage ceremony.”

“That’s true…” another admitted with a laugh and a wink. “The Spirits tweak rules all the time – Humans can get away with it too.”

Katara didn’t have to ask, because several of the women began showing her tattoos that covered from nearly to their shoulder to their elbow. There were several tiny shapes mixed in with lines that surrounded a larger picture.

“These tattoos house our promises to each other. This eel-snake represents my husband. He has a sun-coral to represent me.”

Others begin proudly showing off their tattoos and saying what their husbands had.

“It would be beautiful, I think.” Tǎ said. “Something special for just the two of you.”

“…I’ll ask.” Katara said, hoping she sounded optimistic. Because – this was – this was becoming too much, wasn’t it?

What if…

“Oh, wonderful!” Tǎ looked so happy. “We can design your tattoos and write down your vows and everything after you ask him.”

“Great.” Katara smiled, and desperately hoped the lie wouldn’t come crashing down around them.

She glanced over at Toph, who was getting her hair braided and fashioned. In her blue-green clothing and with her pale eyes and glass-beaded braids framing her face, Katara thought that she looked beautiful. Sort of like a water-nymph that might show up in a Spirit-tale.

Toph reached up and ran her fingers along the braids.

“No worries,” one of the girls said very proudly. “We’ll pin the braids back.”

A few hours later, all of them had facials done. They did each other’s hair and makeup, and Tǎ began guiding Katara towards the ocean.

“There’s something else, you know. A festival. We always celebrate the uniting of families.” She grinned excitedly. “The mothers of the couple always prepare a huge meal for the Tribe, showing how they can work together and provide for the whole Tribe. Since you guys don’t have your parents here, my mom and aunt have stepped up for you guys.”

“Oh…” Katara said, and the pit of guilt in her stomach began digging even deeper. “Thank you.”

She was truly touched by the gesture, and the lie was becoming increasingly more difficult to uphold. But at the same time, she felt…a wonderful, uplifting feeling that was in contrast to everything else.

--

Approaching the bay, Katara could smell cooking, making her stomach rumble loudly.

Katara spotted a woman who looked very much like Tǎ and Hanno.

She introduced herself as Ied. Another woman introduced herself as Volna.

Katara noticed that unlike everyone else, Volna had a marriage necklace.

Glancing around, Katara spotted Zuko and Sokka sitting near a firepit.

Katara approached and called out – and the sight of Zuko’s face when he saw her – it made her feel shy, thrilled, and flattered all at once.

Zuko approached her. “You look beautiful.”

She remembered what Miruka had said, how Zuko looked her. A feeling in her heart? Something was building up inside of her.

Looking up at him, windswept hair combined with the smell of salt and smoke – there was a feeling in her gut and her heart was beating so fast. Toph would have certainly made comments if she had been standing next to them.

What…what was this feeling, Katara wondered. It was wonderfully thrilling yet horribly terrifying.

The words slipped out.

“You too.”

She – Zuko’s unscarred cheek colored red.

“Um – you want to sit down?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Sokka’s grumbling was ignored.

Someone handed both Katara and Zuko bowls of a gray mush filled with…something. But it smelled good.

Zuko took a bite.

“This is really good…what is this?”

The woman smiled, suspiciously coyly. She motioned to their bowls respectively.

“Eel-rabbit testicles and uterus. Quite the aphrodisiac. Guaranteed healthy children and twins or even triplets!”

Zuko began coughing and the stew suddenly lost all appeal. Sokka began coughing as well.

“Wrong pipe.” Zuko choked out and continued eating once he recovered. He sent Katara an apologetic look out of the corner of his eye.

Katara also continued eating out of politeness. Just because they were given this stuff didn’t mean they actually had to go through with it.

Not long after, they were served squid-shark eyeball stew. It was a purply-gray color. The taste – was amazing.

The tentacles were prepared in different ways, and everything was so good.

 When things had settled down and the Sun was slowly sinking below the horizon, Zuko was dragged away by some smaller kids who wanted him to play with them.

Katara watched how Zuko interacted with them – there was that inexplicable feeling again, growing within her. It didn’t fill her with trepidation.

“He’s very good with kids.” Katara turned to see Vulna who sat down on the rock next to hers. She was smiling softly. “It says something about a man, doesn’t it?”

Katara thought of the kids in the village back home. She easily pictured Zuko wearing a blue parka and they were surrounded by snow – she thought of him holding a child that was theirs – the very idea made her blush and feel…

“…Yeah…it does.”

Katara glanced Volna. “Can I ask about your necklace? I mean…everyone else has tattoos, so…”

Volna motioned towards a man who was tall – darker skinned with yellow eyes. He was surrounded by several children.

“That’s my husband. Ied and I are from the North – “

“Really?” Katara didn’t mean to interrupt but she was just surprised.

“My kids didn’t tell you? Ah, I guess it’s not really something one brings up.” Volna simply shrugged off the interruption. “I left because my father wanted me to marry a man who pretty much started demanding I obey him just because I wore his necklace. I didn’t love him, and he was practically stranger. We weren’t even married yet and I could already see what my life would be like.

“Ied absolutely wouldn’t let me leave alone, so she ran away with me. We would have moved to the South, but a series of events led us here. We ended up stranded because of a battle between the Fire Nation Navy, merchant ships and pirates.”

Volna laughed, as if it was all very absurd.

“When I met him, he very confidently walked up to me and completely flubbed whatever flattering thing he was trying to say. But he had none of that blustering overconfidence of expecting anything from me and didn’t demand anything.

“I wasn’t intending to stay…but…” Volna shrugged. “One day, he presented me with a comb, a tattoo design, and a necklace.”

She reached up and touched the carved pendant.

“He said, ‘if I were to ask you to marry me, how would you want me to do it?’ I thought that if I were to be tied to any man, it would be to the one who gave me the option.”

Volna’s smile was soft and gentle as she reminisced.

That feeling in Katara’s chest grew.

--

All of them were too tired to talk about anything after going to their temporary residence.

The next day however, Katara brought up the subject of the marriage tattoos.

“Can I talk to you?” Sokka was very insistent and was obviously not taking ‘no’ for an answer.

Katara rolled her eyes and agreed if only to get Sokka to lay off.

He practically dragged her down a pathway over to an area by the water and the rocks loomed overhead.

“Marriage tattoos?!” Sokka whisper-shouted. “Seriously, Katara! How far are you going to take this?!”

“Well – they gave us the option!” Katara defended, crossing her arms stubbornly and feeling very annoyed.

“Look – this is ridiculous! You have to stop this.”

“Sokka, we aren’t – this isn’t your business.” Katara defended, a part of her was trying to find a way out of the conversation without starting an unnecessary argument.

“Yes, it is! You’re my sister!”

“I didn’t object about you and Yue!”

“That’s not fair and not the same thing and you know it! You need to come clean--”

“Sokka, we can’t do that! They had that whole marriage party--!”

“You two aren’t even married!”

“I--!”

“Ah-hem.”

Both Sokka and Katara jolted and whipped around to look at Aki. He had an expression on his face that sent absolute dread through Katara. A lop-sided smirk that promised nothing but trouble. It wasn’t that Katara felt that there was a dangerous threat; but more along the lines of Toph getting up to something.

“So,” Aki said, as he casually pulled water from his clothing. “From what I hear, my sister still stands a chance.”

Chapter Text

Katara scowled heavily as Aki held his sides, laughing.

After he had overheard her and Sokka’s argument and the truth about her and Zuko, they had no other choice but to take him back to their place and explain everything.

“Tǎ is like that with everyone!” Aki said, still very tickled at Katara basically rooting herself and Zuko into a very avoidable dilemma. “Besides, she likes big, burly Eathbender types!” Aki snorted, “The sweatier the better.”

He started laughing again.

“It’s not that funny!” Katara snapped, mostly from her growing embarrassment.

Even Zuko was scowling.

“You’re right, it’s effing hilarious!”

Aki breathed in, and let out a final, quiet snort through his nose. “Heh.”

He then sat up straight with his expression completely bland once again.

“As the oldest one here, I feel I’m under the moral obligation to question your intentions and ethics of the circumstances you’ve essentially dived head-first into.”

Aki looked at both Katara and Zuko.

“Do you two actually want to be married? To each other?”

“No-“ Sokka started, but Aki cut him off with a disapproving scowl and Toph jammed her dirty foot into his side and hissed at him to be quiet.

“Well…” Katara started, and her heart was beating so loud, and her face was hot.

“I mean…” Zuko started at the same time, shifting in place, and rubbing the back of his neck.

Katara purposefully ignored Sokka’s glower.

 “Okay…” Aki arched his eyebrow. “Are you actually married in any capacity whatsoever?”

Zuko presented the marriage certificate, and Aki didn’t question how and where he’d gotten his hands on such a thing. He quickly explained the whole situation about Ba Sing Se and how it was to prevent them from getting split up.

“I’ve heard those guys have sideways sticks up their asses when it comes to rules and papers. It was obviously official looking enough to fool them, so...” Aki muttered as he inspected the form. He slid the certificate back towards Zuko. “Right. Okay. Have you at any point sat down together and seriously discussed what your married life expectations are? As in you know, years further down the line?”

“No…”

Aki scowled at them.

“What the fu…” He stopped himself and took a breath, dragging his hands down his face. Katara felt as if he were judging her and Zuko very harshly and it made her feel small. In some attempt of silent defiance, she sat up straighter and refused to be cowed further into embarrassment.

 “Okay. Okay.” He huffed. “So – there was talk of tattoos…are you going to go through with that?”

“We haven’t really decided yet.” Katara admitted. “I just mentioned it this morning. I mean… Tǎ and the others seemed really excited about it, so…maybe we could?”

“I’d be willing to go through with it if Katara wants to.” Zuko said.

Aki didn’t look impressed.

“Did any of the women tell you exactly what the tattoos symbolize, other than just showing that they’re married?”

“No,” both Katara and Toph answered.

Aki facepalmed. His tone was very chastising. “Of course, they didn’t. They assumed you were married.”

“…Are the tattoos really that big a deal?” Toph asked.

“Yes. Unlike tattoos, jewelry can be lost, removed, or stolen. The tattoos aren’t there just to look pretty. It shows that Katara belongs to Zuko; and Zuko belongs to Katara. May the Spirits strike down anyone who comes between you without mercy.” Aki looked at them with an incredibly stern expression. “Your vows to each other are designed – well, written into the tattoo as a reminder and to show the world your commitments to each other.”

“You get something that represents the other person. Even if you’re thousands of miles apart from each other, your partner is right next to you in spirit.

“This is taken so seriously, that if someone were to force a person to somehow break their marriage vows, that would result in execution of the culprit – or – slaughtering the culprit’s entire family in front of them and leaving them as the sole survivor.”

“Really?” Sokka asked.

“…You’re…serious?” Toph asked, with some amount of disbelief in her voice. “People have done that?”

“I’ve heard stories.” Aki waved his hand. “Probably to discourage people from doing something stupid. But kernel of truth in lies and all. I’ve also heard that if someone in the relationship breaks their vows in any way and their partner isn’t willing to forgive them, they have to,” Aki counted on his fingers, “…either burn their tattoos off, skin their arm and give their own flesh back to their partner…or cut off their arm. Depends on the Tribe.”

Aki’s expression and tone of voice made it very difficult to tell if he was joking or not. Katara knew that she shared the others’ sentiments as they looked disturbed and horrified at the idea. She quickly snuck a glance over at Toph who looked pale at the idea of self-mutilation as punishment.

“Forever marked in shame. Never seen it done, but still. Cheating and abusing should certainly be discouraged.”

Aki then was looking at her and Zuko again.

“I’m telling you that if you do decide to go through with getting these tattoos, it’s absolutely not going to be a ‘oh, we made a mistake at some point down the line. So sorry’ situation. So, I’m asking you – do you really want to be married to each other?”

Katara looked at Zuko. He met her eyes with his.

Zuko was looking at her when he answered, “Yes,” turning back to Aki. “I do.”

He sounded so sure of it, Katara found herself smiling.

Her voice was full of conviction. “Yes.”

“Right.” Aki nodded. “Now that that’s over with, what will other people think? The South and the Fire Nation? Does the Earth Kingdom even have a say here?” Aki snorted. “Eh… Doesn’t matter – deal with that later.”

That…hadn’t been something Katara had even considered.

“They…won’t like it.” Zuko said after a moment. But then he quickly added as he looked back at Katara, “But they’ll grow to love you! I know they will! People are tired of this War, so…the Earth Kingdom will probably just be relieved that the War is over.”

Katara bit her lip when she realized it: they needed a reason to be married. Which was ridiculous in her mind, but considering who they were…

“You could always make it a political marriage. Or like, you don’t really have any other choice but to get married to each other.” Toph said. Her suggestion was accompanied by her picking her nose. She made a sound of annoyance. “My parents were already talking about an advantageous arranged marriage for me by the time I was seven. They wanted someone with enough influence who would also take care of their precious little flower once I came of age.”

A lop-sided grin spread across Aki’s face. “I like the way you think, Toph Beifong. You’re a genius.”

“Damn right I am.” Toph grinned as well.

Katara suddenly got a bad feeling. Warning bells went off in her mind. From Toph’s grin and the glint in Aki’s dark blue eyes she had the thought of don’t leave Toph and Aki unsupervised.

“I have something of a terrible, very stupid, but awesome idea.” Aki said after thinking for a moment. “Zuko, banished and considered a traitor who’s unable to return to the Fire Nation and doesn’t have the guarantee he ever will, married Katara as a form of protection.”

He looked at Katara then. “Miruka and Zuko both mentioned it – you’re wanting to revitalize bending in the South, right? Well, in return for Zuko getting to marry you, he just provided you with a bunch of Waterbenders and others who are willing to travel South. Some of whom aren’t married and are open to it.”

Motioning to himself, “You have people who are willing to teach you bending without argument. And the North, didn’t.”

Somehow, that grin turned more nefarious.

“Twist the knife and salt the wound. Zuko, Prince of the Fire Nation did far more in a few months than the North ever did. If someone bitches about your relationship with him, you can politely throw that fact in their face.”

Toph’s expression looked gleeful.

“About the Earth Kingdom – you could probably say that it’s the Fire Nation paying reparations…so they can’t complain…”

Katara could hardly focus on Toph’s voice. Would that really be how people viewed their relationship? She didn’t want people looking at it like she was being forced, or Zuko was being punished. She wanted people to know that they were doing it for--

Sokka’s voice interrupted her storming thoughts. Sounding very reluctant, he added, “I don’t like this. I don’t want Katara to be a bargaining chip. But…there’s a benefit to this so everyone wins. We – we made a deal with the Chief. What if we could expand on that deal?”

Sokka looked uncomfortable as everyone’s attention was on him.

“There was some concern about the other Wet-Foot factions interfering with Xīn Yuè and how it has such limited influence being so isolated and the lack of resources. But…if there was a way to guarantee that Xīn Yuè could trade solely with the South and the Fire Nation without having to make deals with the other Tribes… The Fire Nation could provide ships…”

Aki then said, “You remember that flag – the Water-Snake-Weasel Tribe. They’re slave traders. They nab up anyone who wanders out too far into free territories. But the only people they don’t dare touch are the married ones. They don’t want bad omens raining down on their Tribe. The other Tribes would respect the marriage tattoos as well.

It’s unconventional, but this whole situation is unconventional.”

“We win the War, and Zuko returns to the Fire Nation, and Katara follows later when things are taken care of back home.” Sokka said, his expression was grim, showing his thoughts on the matter. “Like Toph said. Make it sound like Zuko marrying Katara is paying reparations.”

Zuko’s hand tightened against hers. It was a strange thing, to be both talked about and to at the same time.

“I’ve heard that Fire Nation weddings last for a week. Right?” Toph said. “You could get married again, under Fire Nation law.” Toph snorted but continued. “You could make that week a holiday so people can celebrate, and businesses would make money.”

“I think it would be the same for an official Southern Water Tribe ceremony.” Sokka added.

“Again, make it something people will celebrate.” Toph said. “Make it another holiday or something. Oh! Like a Lunar Festival!”

“Katara, you…” Sokka’s expression was…scared.

She could only smile at her brother, but it didn’t exactly reach her eyes. She mentally assured him that she’d be okay.

There were a few more details they needed to go over, but they would go and see the Chief and discuss their plans with her (without revealing the full extent of the truth, of course.)

The others left Zuko and Katara to talk. Because this concerned them more than anything else.

They sat facing each other. Katara gripped Zuko’s hand.

She thought about coming clean, of course. But that was followed very closely with the thoughts of Tǎ and Miruka, Volna and Ied, who all would be hurt and disappointed. It would forever damage any relationships they had with him. The Chief wouldn’t want anything to do with any of them anymore, no matter what they could offer. She would have no need to honor any contract.

Zuko would be considered untrustworthy, and Katara and Sokka both – the entire South, would be a pariah…

“I regret this.” Katara said, and she gripped Zuko’s hand tightly with her own. She didn’t let go; and even tightened her grip so he couldn’t pull away easily. She knew he would probably think she was talking about them. Given how he was looking at her with concern in his eyes, her assumption was correct. Quickly, she added, “Not this. Not with you – just – all of this. I didn’t even consider who you were. I didn’t stop to think so many people would be counting on this to work. I’m sorry.”

Zuko leaned forward and pulled Katara towards himself so that their foreheads could touch.

“I’m not.”

“I’m scared. What if everything goes wrong and we fail?”

“I think you’re too stubborn to let that happen.” Zuko whispered.

Katara breathed in, shakily. “Yeah. Okay.”

“You know what? I’m scared too.” Zuko admitted with a humorless laugh. “I’ll probably be Fire Lord someday. I – I’m scared I’ll be like my ancestors. They were evil – what if that’s in my blood too and I can’t escape it? What if I’m worse than they ever were?”

“The fact you’re afraid of that happening means that you won’t ever be that person.”

Zuko breathed out, sounding relieved. “Yeah, okay.”

A beat.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Are you?”

They both separated to look at each other.

“It helps other people, and…getting to be with you is a bonus.” Katara said.

“I wouldn’t have needed to justify anything to be with you.” Zuko said.

Katara then said, “And – kids. We’re going to have kids, right?” she rambled. “Not now obviously, but…someday.”

Zuko face colored as he looked at her coming to the same realization. “Y-yeah. Someday.”

“Um…Zuko.” Katara cursed the flustered feeling that was rapidly winding into a massive, tight ball in her belly. “I’ve never…done anything like that with anyone before. But…I wouldn’t mind if you were my first.”

Zuko’s smile was small and was just for her. His hand reached up to brush her hair behind her ear and his thumb gently stroked her cheek.

“I wouldn’t mind if you were my only one.”

That was when Katara kissed him again, desperate and wanting. She hated the fact that they couldn’t just stay here for a bit longer. Away from the others, away from this problem of – people, complete strangers who had no idea that so much was weighing down on two people.

“…How do people propose in the South? I want to do this properly.”

“I…don’t really know.” Katara admitted. “But…maybe if we’re already being so unconventional, we should just do something on our own.”

“Like…making something?”

“We’ll have to make sure it won’t be lost or stolen – and I won’t take it off.”

At this point, they were making excuses to delay things.

Pulling back, she said, “Maybe we should put all that in our vows. Not the…having kids and stuff part, but the other part at the beginning. We also need to tell the Chief the news.”

Zuko nodded in agreement, though he looked equally disappointed that they had to stop.

“Yeah…maybe…maybe we should write everything down. Just to make sure it’s all…ironclad and stuff.”

“…And stuff.” Katara agreed.

They both leaned into each other again, kissing as if to assure themselves and each other that they were fully committed to going through with this. There was no going back.

---

Toph had a very knowing smirk on her face when Katara and Zuko exited their hut.

Aki had that grin. “If you want, my mom can give you the recipe for eel-rabbit testicles and uterus. How do you think she’s had ten kids? There are three sets of twins in my immediate family.”

He looked annoyingly thrilled at Katara and Zuko’s appalled expressions.

“We aren’t discussing any of that!” Sokka snapped. “Let’s just go see the Chief!”

---

Upon telling her their plan, Chief Plālomā was definitely surprised, if not a little skeptical. She frowned, studying Katara and Zuko very critically.

She spoke slowly, as if making sure she fully understood what they were saying.

“…You want to put a contract between our Nations into a marriage tattoo? That’s…certainly unconventional…”

They discussed their plan very carefully (obviously not mentioning the fact that Zuko and Katara were fake-married.) Chief Plālomā’s gaze narrowed at Sokka as he spoke.

He resisted the urge to loosen his already-loose collar. Her gaze made him feel small. Damn. He could probably improve his own public speaking skills under her grueling gaze.

Sokka told Chief Plālomā what Aki had told him. Admittedly, the guy was extremely good at coming up a plausible enough sounding reason to go with this whole tattoo business.

Since Zuko was marrying Katara – he could be considered Water Tribe and Katara Fire Nation. Plus, Katara was from a Sister-Tribe, distant cousins, if you will.

Because he was technically without a country, he could be “adopted” by Aki’s family. He quickly assured Sokka that his mom loved Zuko and wouldn’t mind having such news sprung on her.

Zuko and Katara could promise to take care of each other’s families as part of their vows.

It was skirting the rules.

Chief Plālomā turned to Katara and Zuko.

“…Is this something you are truly willing to do?”

Both of them nodded, answering, “Yes.”

“Very well. Let’s go over the terms once again and update accordingly.”

The Chief then added, “Normally, the tattoo ceremony according to the phases of the Moon. But since we already aren’t doing things in the traditional sense, we can prepare things for tomorrow.”

---

Later that day, everyone went down to the shore.

Word had spread amongst the locals, and the Waterbenders were interested in sparing with Katara as a sort of informal “interview”. It was also an opportunity to show her Wet-Foot waterbending.

The residents of Xīn Yuè, it seemed, dealt solely in mutual agreements.

“For transportation and lodging, I promise that I’ll give you three years to help the South. I figure I have to help hunt and gather food, or at least get my own, correct?”

One of the men said.

A man named Kin-Lo, Aki and Miruka’s older brother, looked very much like a thug. He had tattoos that indicated he was married, and others that likely marked his achievements. He didn’t smile and scowled heavily at everyone. He went over the contract between their Tribes with a very critical eye and made sure that any contracts they made were fair for everyone involved.

This was something Zuko and Sokka dealt with, and Katara somewhat – if it involved her plans for a school.

Of course, much of their negotiations hinged on them winning the War.

He only grinned once everything was finalized, and he did a very firm and enthusiastic Water Tribe handshake with Katara, Sokka, and Zuko – which pretty much shook their entire bodies.

--

Katara watched as Aki seemed to glide on the surface of the water.

“How do you do that?” Katara asked, hoping she didn’t sound too eager.

“It’s easy,” said Aki. “You just bend the water with your feet and constantly push off of it and keep your feet flat.”

Katara stepped out onto the water, pushing with her feet – and promptly sunk. Thankful that she could swim, Katara spluttered as she broke through the surface.

“You actually believed me?” Aki asked, staring at her. He pulled her up onto one of the nearby rocks and sat down next to her. “I thought I made it sound ridiculous enough that you’d at least question it.”

Katara only scowled at him inn response.

“It’s very hard to know when you’re joking, Aki,” one of the girls said.

“Oh. I’ll be sure to add more inflection into my voice in the future.” Aki said, voice still completely bland.

“You’re an ass, Aki,” was the reply.

Rolling his eyes and ignoring the girl, he turned back to Katara and lifted his foot to show that he had ice frozen in a bowl-shape on the bottom of his foot.

“Goes without saying, but always wear shoes doing this and only do it for short amounts of time…at most, thirteen minutes. But that’s pushing it.”

Aki melted the ice and massaged his feet with healing water. “Always make sure to do this after the ice shoes – obvious reasons.”

Katara nodded, thankful that Aki wasn’t talking down to her.

Aki then explained how to make the ice shoe.

“The bowl needs to be hollow; and there is some waterbending involved and have a good balance. It’s sort of like having small boats on your feet.”

He then made the ice bowl and showed it to her. “See the thickness here and how it’s thin here? This is how you want it. Too much and you risk being thrown upside-down.”

Aki then froze the ice bowls to his feet and stood up. Katara followed his instructions and stood up as well. Although, she needed Aki to hold onto her so that she didn’t fall.

“Try standing with your hips like this,” one of the girls suggested, posing slightly so Katara could observe. “Always be moving as well.”

Katara mentally called them “foot bowls” – their use was more of a game of racing and balance. She probably would have been able to get the hang of it much faster, but Aki refused to risk frostbite and insisted that they take breaks every ten minutes or so, along with water healing their feet just in case.

Overcaution aside, Katara was enjoying herself.

--

Wet-Foot waterbending was done more as a team, instead of as just an individual.

People would swim and use waterbending at the same time, making them almost like otter-penguins gliding through the water. Other people around them would create air bubbles for their companions, and they watched each other’s backs.

Wet-Foot could also dive deeply very rapidly, and several of them could hold their breath for a little over twenty minutes.

Katara wanted to watch how they would spar underwater.

The fighters both had a partner who were only there just in case of an emergency.

Aki swam like an eel-shark, striking fast and rapidly dodging.

Katara wanted to try it, but not being used to swimming and bending with such tight synchronization, she could hardly do anything to fight back. Yet…

How long would it take her to learn to fight using this style? And to use it like the Wet-Foot could? She didn’t really have the luxury of practicing what with everything else going on.

It was a little annoying, but it wasn’t frustrating. If anything, Katara was beyond thrilled. Could something like this be brought to the South? Would it be possible to adapt their bending to swim in the frigid waters? That would change how they hunted!

They could finally hunt using Waterbenders after so long!

Excited, Katara asked Aki if they could spar, and he agreed.

---

Zuko observed as Aki and Katara sparred. He wasn’t sure which one he should cheer for, so he just cheered for them both.

Next to him, Hanno was yelling, “Kick her ass, Aki!”

 On the other side, Sokka was rooting for Katara, and Toph was absolutely elated as she dug her feet into the ground.

Her grin was wide.

Aki didn’t hold back as he rushed towards her with tendrils of water. When Katara went to defend herself, Aki suddenly froze the water and threw a barrage of icicles at her.

She quickly responded and managed to shield herself and dodge – though a few icicles struck her.

It was obvious that Katara was enjoying herself as she grinned and stepped up her bending. Aki was fighting her seriously right off the bat, which Zuko could tell she appreciated. He recalled her complaints of the Northerners refusing to fight or belittling her just because she wasn’t a boy.

Aki really liked icicles and spikes because he constantly threw them at her. It was a favorite tactic of his – one that Zuko had only witnessed and never personally experienced. At the time, Zuko had been banished for only a little over three or four months and he’d been unable to produce so much as a spark. Now, however…he was wanting to test his skills.

Zuko stiffened when he noticed Katara starting to struggle. Aki’s bending (and nearly all of Xīn Yuè’s  Benders) had their own distinct style that differed from the norm.

“He moves very much like an Earthbender and has the aggressive style of firebending…” Toph said after a few minutes. “Now I want a chance to fight him.”

It was an extremely close match; to the point that it was determined to be a tie.

Katara had been able to adapt where she could, and she gave Aki a polite bow – which he returned.

---

After resting for a bit, Katara sparred with Tǎ, who was clearly excited by the prospect.

Katara was prepared when Tǎ made an ice platform and sent a wave of water at her. What Katara wasn’t prepared for was Tǎ diving off of the platform and attempting to headbutt her while wearing an ice helmet. It was very similar to earthbending moves that she’d seen on her travels through the Earth Kingdom.

Katara managed to roll to the side and readied herself to defend.

“Aw, you dodged!” Tǎ whined cheerfully, grinning.

Katara couldn’t help but laugh at her tone.

It was wonderful being able to do this. This was what she – her entire Tribe had missed out on for so long. She had a taste of normalcy over the past two days and it was wonderful.

--

The sparring matches were amazing. If these people could come South and help her Tribe, then…

Katara determined that later, she would have to do something for Zuko as a thank you – because if it hadn’t been for him…

She sat admiring the view. It was mid-afternoon, and the water was an especially pleasant green color. She dipped her toes in the water, enjoying the cool feeling.

Somewhere behind her, Sokka was annoyed at Hanno for something. He, Hanno, Toph, and Zuko were playing a card game or something.

“Someone looks happy.”

Katara turned to look at Aki, who handed her a drink and something sweet-smelling on a stick and sat down next to her to enjoy his own food.

“I am.” Katara said and took a bite of her food. “This is good…thanks.”

Aki only hummed.

“Thank you, for today. And…everything else. You know.”

Aki snorted – his way of laughing. “Yeah, well. I can see why Zuko would marry you.”

Katara blushed furiously, and took a drink, somehow hoping to hide the fact.

Well…Aki knew the truth, and he’d already agreed to come South, so there was no reason for him to lie.

“W-what do you see?” Katara asked.

Aki suddenly leaned close to her, completely ignoring personal space and he grinned, lopsidedly. “Zuko’s disgustingly in love with you.”

He leaned back then, continuing, “Reminded me of my brother and his wife when they got married. Zuko talked about you with this stupid smile on his face. I hated it, but I didn’t want to hurt the guy’s feelings telling him to shut up.”

This information pleased Katara. Although, she wasn’t sure if Aki was joking or not. She figured he was, given the way he was looking at her.

“I think someone like Zuko needs a barbed thorn like you by his side.”

“…I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It is. Trust me, you’d know if I was insulting you.”

Sokka’s voice cut through the air as he accused Toph of cheating, which she gleefully denied.

---

Once their game was over, Zuko approached Katara and asked if she wanted to get some lunch. She happily agreed, and they started making their way to buy a few things to eat.

Zuko noticed that Katara’s hair had come undone, and she’d pretty much messily set it back into place just to keep the loose strands out of her face.

But he quickly leaned in to place a kiss on her cheek, and she tasted salty.

“Ah, Zuko! I’m all sweaty…and I probably stink.”

“I don’t mind.” Zuko said. “You don’t smell nearly as bad as my uncle.”

“Thanks.” Katara snorted. “That’s what every girl wants: to be compared to her husband’s uncle.”

It took several seconds for them both to realize what she’d just said, and Zuko suddenly felt awkward. Or…should he feel awkward?

Silently, Katara wrapped her arm around his.

“Tomorrow…we…this is really happening…I’m nervous. But happy?”

Zuko didn’t want to be anything like Ozai.

“Me too.”

He’d make this work, no matter what.

---

In the healing hut, the Healers were working silently as their patient was set into a shallow pool and the water began to flow around him and glow as they began another round of healing sessions.

He moaned and grunted, and his face scrunched. This was the first time he had made any movements on his own.

---

Aang opened his eyes to the sight of several people.

“…Katara?”

 It took several long seconds for his muddled brain to make sense of the sight. What was going on? Katara wasn’t there, but the people there were definitely Water Tribe.

“Good afternoon, Avatar.”

Chapter Text

Confusion surrounded Aang’s muddled mind as the Chief of Xīn Yuè greeted him and also pretty much demanded that he wear some of the Water Tribe’s clothing because she didn’t want to risk him getting identified as the Avatar.

“I’m an Air Nomad?” Aang’s tired mind unhelpfully supplied.

“I don’t care.” Chief Plālomā said, her face forming a tight frown. It was stern enough to make Aang take a mental step back and pay attention lest she reprimand him even more harshly.

“I will not put my Tribe at risk just because you don’t want to change your clothing.”

“Yes ma’am.” Aang said quickly, accepting the offered clothing. Well…the material didn’t seem to be made from animal skin, so he could at least feel guilt-free about wearing it.

--

Apparently, there were several things Aang needed to catch up on.

It turned out that Zuko had helped them in Ba Sing Se and his “betrayal” had been to trick Azula. But Ba Sing Se had fallen.

The residents of Xīn Yuè were people that were friends of Zuko’s. Katara, Sokka, and Zuko were working on some sort of treaty or something. It was a pretty big deal, from what he could gather of everyone’s excited chatter. There was also going to be a tattoo ceremony to solidify their negotiations.

Aang also met Aki and Hanno, two of Zuko’s closest friends from this place, along with their families.

There were plenty of names to remember, and Aang hoped he could remember all of them.

Someone had made him food with cooked veggies and freshly sliced fruit, and Aang ate greedily.

He did notice that Katara and Zuko were much closer than he remembered, but he didn’t dwell on it. It wasn’t as if Katara and Zuko actually liked each other. It was all for show, and there was no reason for them to do that here.

“Aang, we have to talk about something,” Katara said, but Aang noticed some interesting birds – iguana-parrots! Their coloring was different than those in the Fire Nation.

“We can talk later – there’s plenty of time.” Aang assured Katara – and he was off to explore.

While he didn’t necessarily use airbending, Aang jumped from various rocks and cliff faces up to a point where he could look over the ocean.

It was beautiful here. In fact, he could probably finally confess to Katara. Getting struck by lighting and getting put into a coma for over almost two-weeks caused a guy to reevaluate his priorities. Guru Pathik’s warnings sounded somewhere in the back of his mind, but Aang brushed them off.

He could just…find a way to make it work.

Aang turned when he heard voices. There were a small group of the locals all sitting by one of the cliffs.

He recognized Aki and Miruka…and Haruno…no…Hanno, and Tǎ, if he remembered correctly. There was another guy with them who looked enough like Aki and Miruka he could only assume that they were siblings.

They were surround by several young kids, and Tǎ leading them in a song while the others simply watched or clapped along.

“Hey, guys!” Aang greeted enthusiastically. They paused the song to greet him.

Aki was the only one to not smile, Aang noticed. Did he ever smile?

“It sure is pretty here.” Aang said conversationally.

“Yeah, it’s nice,” one of the girls agreed.

“I was wondering…” he scratched the back of his head. “Is there a place around here that’s peaceful? Like…say if um, someone wanted to confess…privately. Is there a place like that here?”

The boy who looked like Aki and Miruka’s sibling casually jabbed with his thumb, saying, “West side of the island. There’s a twisty path that’s just about hidden by trees. But it’s easier to reach by the water.”

“Aww, you gonna confess to Toph?” Hanno asked, clearly teasing.

“Huh? No. Why would I confess to Toph?”

“Why would you confess to anyone?” Aki asked, looking at him with a raised brow.

“Why would I not?” Aang answered as if it were obvious. “I love her. Isn’t there a girl you like?”

Aki scoffed in disgust. “No.”

“Aki doesn’t like anyone,” Miruka said with a laugh.

“I don’t have a high enough tolerance for relationship bullshi...” Aki slowly turned towards the younger kids before looking back at Aang. “…shipoop.”

“…Aren’t you a bit young to already be considering a um, you know… intimate carnal partner?” Tǎ asked.

“Yeah…there’s no way you could have met someone here so soon to agree to the Nomadic ways of um…intimacy,” the sibling guy spoke up.

What did he even mean by that?

“I’m not that young…” Aang tried not to pout. Why would they think he was too young? “What does carnal mean?”

The older kids all shared a look.

“You guys are being so weird.” Aang was very baffled by their questions. He then stated as if it should have been blatantly obvious. “I’m gonna confess to Katara.”

Everyone stopped to look at him with obvious confusion.

“Aren’t Katara and Zuko, you know…married?”

It was Aang’s turn to be confused. “What? No. They’re just pretending.” Aang sighed dreamily. “She’s my forever girl.”

“They’re…pretending?” Miruka asked, looking even more confused.

“They sure are doing a lot of unnecessary pretending.” A girl said with a laugh. “You should have seen them earlier.”

“Children-making stew,” another one said very seriously, as if that meant something.

A part of Aang thought that he should question that – but a much bigger part convinced him that they had more likely just not understood what they were seeing. Katara knew that Aang was interested in her – it wasn’t like he was subtle, or anything.  

“Wait, kid.” Aki spoke up quickly as he stood. “You’re not getting it – they aren’t pretending.”

Aang laughed. Clearly, Aki didn’t know Zuko as well as he thought. Because there was no way that Zuko and Katara could possibly be interested in each other.

“What? Of course they are.”

“Kid! Seriously, this isn’t—”

The joke stopped being funny the first time. The people here were friendly but weird.

“Thank guys. I gotta go.”

Aang bounded off, excitedly thinking about his confession and what he was going to say.

--

“What was he talking about?”

Aki slowly turned to the others. “I don’t think he realized – Zuko told me – it started as a marriage of convenience that became very disgustingly real. You should’ve heard him talk about Katara—”

He suddenly stopped and released a very colorful series of curse words before running off.

The younger kids all watched him leave, eyes wide.

“Absolutely do not repeat any of what he said.”

The kids giggled. “Okay!”

--

Katara and Zuko were sitting down for a short rest. They had just had a brief sparring match, with Katara testing her skills from what she had observed. Even Zuko was picking up a few tricks.

Katara felt kind of gross – she was sweaty, and her hair had come undone and she definitely needed to wash the saltiness off of her skin.

“You have nice-smelling sweat,” Zuko assured her with a smile.

Katara snorted and pushed his face away, but the smile on her face was very telling of what she thought of the comment.

“Hey! Aang’s forever girl!” Aki shouted as he ran up to them.

“What?!” Katara snapped, immediately turning and standing. “I am not Aang’s forever girl!”

“Well, have you told him that?” Aki asked. “He’s already planning some sort of confession!”

“What?” Katara said, voice quiet. She looked from Aki to Zuko. “I knew he liked me, but I thought it was just a small crush…”

Katara took in a breath, closing her eyes to steel herself for what she had to do. “…Where is he?”

Aki quickly mapped out the location on his hand.

“West side of the island – there’s a small beach. You can reach it through a small path here or by the water.”

“Thanks…” Katara began walking. “I’ll see you later.”

--

Aang glanced around the beach, trying to make sure everything was perfect. He’d picked several flowers from the cliffs to decorate the beach, gathered seashells, and used seaweed to make makeshift streamers.

It looked great! He just needed to maybe gather some candles or something. He wanted to light up the beach in a way that would compliment the moonlight even though it would be fairly bright as the Full Moon would be happening very soon.

Besides, didn’t girls like that sort of thing? He wanted to do more, because Katara deserved it.

Maybe he could ask one of the locals for help on that?

Once they were older and the War was over, he’d give her a proper confession. Complete with a new necklace he’d carve himself.

Momo chirped. Aang heard the sounds of someone making their way through the bushes and of footsteps walking down the path.

It was Katara! She was here too early! But even in the early evening sun she looked beautiful. The way the sun cast red-gold against her darker skin and reflected off of the polished sea-glass woven into the braids in her hair made him think of a goddess.

The way she walked and the design of the loose, flowing pants she wore made it look as if she were walking on air.

He wasn’t ready! But he was still excited to see her.

“Katara!” Aang said excitedly. He quickly moved to meet her, but also to intercept her. “You not supposed to be here, yet! Come back later--!”

“Aang. I know what this is.” Katara said, and she didn’t look all that happy.

“Well, I mean…” Aang started. Maybe she’d rather have a confession of love at one of the Air Temples. Or…maybe she wanted other people to be there? Maybe—

“Aang.”

Katara’s voice cut through his thoughts.

“I’m sorry. But – I,” she breathed in, as if steadying herself. “I can’t be in a relationship with you.”

“What do you mean?”

Was this some kind of joke?! If so, Aang didn’t find it funny.

“I mean, I don’t want to be in a relationship with you, Aang.” Katara wasn’t looking at him. “Even if I could.”

What? What was this? His brain and heart fought trying to rationalize the hurt and the anger he felt building up. This was a cruel joke! It had to be.

“Why would you say that?! I love you!”

Katara’s expression looked pained. “I’m sorry, Aang. But I don’t love you like that—"

“That’s not fair!” Aang’s eyes burned with tears, but he fought to not let them fall. He was failing. “I love you more than he ever could!”

She had no idea what he’d done for her. Zuko hadn’t come close to making the same kind of sacrifice.

“Aang.” Katara’s voice was firm and scolding. “Please, stop interrupting me.”

The reprimand felt humiliating, like she was treating him like a little kid. He clenched his fists tightly, feeling so angry. Angry enough that if he could access the Avatar State right now, he most certainly would.

“Listen, to me. Please. I love you; I really do. I’m so glad to have met you – you’re a wonderful friend.”

“But…you’re my forever girl.” Aang said, near pleading. “Roku said that you would!”

“…I don’t want to be anyone’s “forever girl”.” Katara’s eyebrows furrowed looking confused, even a little annoyed. “You seriously think that I’d return your feelings just because Roku said I would? That’s not how it works.”

“Did I even – you’re not giving me a chance.” Aang’s voice hitched, his throat pained as if he were still stuck in the desert.

Aang knew that he was begging – it wasn’t fair. Katara just didn’t understand. If he could just make her understand – if she just gave him the chance to truly show her what he was willing to –

Katara visibly sighed, shoulders sagging. She looked at him with eyes that were holding back her own tears.

Her voice was firm. “Aang…you have to accept that sometimes people say ‘no’…even if I wasn’t doing this whole ritual with Zuko…it’d still be ‘no.’”

The tears came so much harder, and his voice cracked far too painfully for him to form words. He wracked his brain, desperately trying to think of a reasonable argument that Katara would listen to so that she would change her mind.

“…I’m sorry, Aang.” Katara’s voice was a whisper.

Katara turned fully and hurried away.

Aang could only watch her leave, his words failing him at the most inopportune time. He wanted to tell her to wait. He needed to tell her how much she meant to him. Needed to tell her what he had done for her – what had Zuko ever done for her? Surely, he could do something similar and more because he was the Avatar!

Aang glanced at the beach, taking in the decorations.

The seaweed didn’t have the same look anymore. It looked mushy and droopy. The flowers had already started wilting; and his heart along with them.

--

Katara returned that evening to see that Zuko had waited up for her. Wordlessly, she sat down next to him and pulled him into a hug. She didn’t know what to say – somehow, this was her fault, wasn’t it? If she had just talked to Aang much earlier, than he wouldn’t have gotten his hopes so high up only for them to come crashing down much harsher than had been necessary.

She’d known about his crush for a while but hadn’t realized how seriously he’d taken it.

Zuko’s hand rubbed circles on her back. “It’s not your fault, you know.”

He seemed to know her so well for him to be able to say such things.

“I left him crying.” Katara said, burying her face into Zuko’s chest. “How is that not my fault?”

“…I don’t have some magical words to tell you, but…Aang’s feelings aren’t your responsibility.”

Logically, Katara knew that. She nodded. Aang’s expression had been so crushed – his gray eyes had been angry. But he still was that sweet kid she’d met in the South Pole. He was still the boy who had so much responsibility on his shoulders and it truly wasn’t fair.

But it would have been far worse if she had simply led him on.

“I just wish I didn’t have to break his heart.”

--

The next day, Aang didn’t smile when he saw the others. Their morning greetings were polite, while Aang’s were visibly forced.

So, what if he had a little bit of an attitude?

Zuko’s remaining eyebrow arched, and he didn’t look very impressed. In fact, he could be admonishing without saying a word.

Aang refused to crumple under his gaze, but he hunched over his breakfast even more.

“Sit up straight when you’re eating, Aang.” Katara’s voice came out – somehow, that was humiliating because she wasn’t telling Zuko to sit up straight.

“Toph, do you really have to do that?” Katara asked.

Aang didn’t look to see what Toph was doing.

“Here, Toph.” Zuko said, and there was the ruffling of fabric. “At least use a napkin.”

“My clothing works just fine, thanks.” Toph’s grin was obvious in the tone of her voice.

“Fine then. Thank you for volunteering to do laundry. It’s about time you learned anyway.” Zuko said, and he moved – Aang’s eyes followed him – to see that he sat down next to Katara.

Aang should be the one who got to sit next to her.

“What?!” Toph looked flabbergasted.

“Just think! It’s the road to independence!” Katara said optimistically.

“Fine. But I’m not washing Snoozles’ socks.”

“Hey!”

Aang listened but did not contribute to the conversation. He just had to think… Katara probably just…didn’t realize how much she truly meant to him. Maybe if he could talk to her, or show her somehow…then she’d change her mind.

Aang wanted to fly away, but he wasn’t allowed because there was something about not wanting any attention on Xīn Yuè because they were a neutral territory.

“Hey, guys!” Tǎ greeted them with a smile that was far too wide and energetic for being that early in the morning.

“Well, just about everything is ready for tonight.”

Aang’s eyes widened as he looked up at her. His time was limited – he needed to plan – he needed to do something! He just…he had to convince Katara that she was making a mistake.

“I don’t get why Katara has to do this.” Aang muttered bitterly to Momo, who only chirped in response.

“It’s a whole unification thing,” a voice drawled.

Aang jerked around to look up at Aki, who had that bored scowl on his face. His brother, Kyo, was also staring at him.

“Peace between the Nations and all that.” Aki finished with a lazy shrug.

“Well – they don’t have to get married for that!” Aang whisper-hissed, because he didn’t want anyone else to overhear him. Admittedly, he didn’t want the others to know what he was saying – and he hoped that Aki wouldn’t tattle on him.

He then had a thought.

“The Avatar is supposed to keep the peace between the Nations, right? So, they shouldn’t need to do this – or – or they need to ask the Avatar’s permission.”

“Why would anyone ask you? You’re a kid.” Aki stated.

“I-! No, I’m not!” Aang argued. His annoyance increased from the way Aki’s eyebrow went up.

“…Thought peace between Nations was the end goal.” Kyo muttered quietly. “Who cares how they get there ‘long as everyone benefits?”

“They’re because they’re from entirely different Nations and the Nations are supposed to be separate…”

Aang’s voice trailed off under the weight of both Aki and Kyo’s intensifying glares.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Aki hissed. A thin layer of ice spread around them. Some of it even climbed and spread across Aang’s shoes.

Kyo’s fists were smoking.

Aang realized what he’d said – he needed to clear it up! He just needed to explain they were the exception –

The brothers both quickly moved away from him and did not turn back to look at him.

Aang could just apologize later.

Mentally, he practiced what he was going to say. He scrapped version after version. Even as he followed the others towards one of their coastlines Aang tried to think of the absolutely perfect words that would make Katara at least consider him an option – to turn away from Zuko.

Several of Aki and Kyo’s siblings were already at the coast.

Hanno practically tackled Zuko, whatever he was saying was muffled by the roaring in Aang’s ears.

He could make a speech – say something – anything.

“…My mom and aunt will be doing this for you…” Aki was telling Katara and Zuko.

Aang reached out, grasping Katara’s sleeve.

She turned to him. The sun shone down on them. Its rays reflected off of the water and onto her and the beads braided into her hair. It made her look so otherworldly. He’d tell her multiple times every day how beautiful she was.

“What is it, Aang?”

“Please don’t do this.”

Katara pulled away. Now, her face looked angry. “Aang. I already told you ‘no’. You have to accept that.”

The others were pausing their conversation and looking at them. But Aang had to keep going – he’d show them too how much he loved her.

She’d look at him just like she did Zuko – except Zuko wouldn’t even be in her gaze any longer.

“But I love you –“

“Um…Katara’s not a Nomad,” someone said. Aang didn’t know who, and he didn’t care.

But Katara could just adapt to being a Nomad, couldn’t she? If she loved him, she would.

“You don’t have to do this.”

“…I’m not being forced, Aang.”

There was muffled muttering from the others, but Aang needed to push forward.

“Uh, kid – this isn’t the fu…effing time or place…”

“Um, Aang…” Zuko was frowning at him. “I thought that Katara already told you that she wouldn’t—”

“I’ve known her longer than Zuko has!” Aang insistently argued.

“Just because you’ve known someone longer than anyone doesn’t give you the right to marry them.” Zuko was sounding exasperated.

Toph snorted. “Technically, Sokka has known Katara the longest. But I don’t think we wanna go there.”

“Toph!” both Sokka and Katara sounded disgusted.

“I said,” Toph waved them off. “Besides, they both spent several months alone -” her voice was disturbingly suggestive and grated like sandpaper in Aang’s ears. “-in the desert – so Zuko made up for lost time.”

Both of them – a smile and a blush that neither of them bothered to hide.

His lungs constricted.

“But-!”

“Aang, I’m not doing this – Zuko and I are –“

Aang clenched his teeth. He was desperate – needing her – reaching for her – yet she was drifting away – he had to –

“I gave up the Avatar State for you!”

Katara was staring at him then – but her expression was not filled with the joy and gratefulness he’d anticipated.

The conversations around them truly paused, then. The only sounds were the seabirds and the crashing waves of the ocean.

“You said you mastered it!” Sokka’s voice was the first to cut through. “All my plans! Ruined! What’re we going to do? They all hinge on you being in the awesome Avatar State-i-ness!”

“You did what?” Katara’s voice was somehow simultaneously flat and sharp.

“Wait, all this time – can you even access the Avatar State?!” Toph demanded.

“Well, I can – sort of – I did!” Aang waved his hands.

“Yes or no, Aang!” Toph’s fists were clenched and Aang felt the ground shift ever so slightly.

 “I can still do it!”

“…You’re lying…” Toph’s voice sounded angry, and her expression was filled with disappointment.

“How are you going to fight the Father Lord without the Avatar State?!” Zuko demanded. He even looked almost panicked in his anger.

Aang had the sinking feeling that maybe he shouldn’t have said anything at all. But he’d come this far. He had to keep going.

A thick, choking awkwardness weighed down on them. It was suddenly very, inescapably hot. Were they by a volcano and no-one mentioned it? Aang’s collar felt like it was restricting his breathing. He reached up to loosen it, but – it was already loose. The shirt wasn’t the type that came up to his neck.

“I’m such a forgetful goose-fish!” Tǎ clapped her hands, forcing a wide, optimistic smile. “How silly of me. Do you remember that awesome thing I was telling you all about? Let’s go see it right now!”

Quickly, everyone was standing up and all of them were quickly agreeing with Tǎ

“Now hold on a minute,” Sokka was saying.

“Go see the awesome thing, Sokka.” Katara said, voice tight. “I need to talk to Aang alone.”

Once they were gone, Katara turned to him. She looked furious – and Aang never thought that expression would be directed at him.

“What did you do? You lied about mastering the Avatar State?! Why would you do that?”

“I just…” Aang fumbled. This – this was his opportunity to explain himself. “I was mastering it, you see. Guru Pathik talked about that I was attached to you – I saw you in a vision. That’s how I knew you were in trouble in Ba Sing Se and-and I needed to rescue you!

“And you sort of blocked my way – not that you were doing it intentionally! – into the Avatar State. I’d have to give you up so I could access it.”

Aang explained as he rambled, hoping he was making himself understood.

“I can still do it – I’m sure. I mean, you’ve pulled me out of it before and you can just do it again.”

He glanced up at her hopefully.

“You will not put that responsibility on me, Aang!” Katara wasn’t yelling, but her voice was raised. “That is not fair!”

Katara waved her arm, and the ocean splashed harshly against the shore. “You lied! People are out there risking their lives! Everyone is counting on you! You – you’re being selfish!”

Aang did not want to be reminded that people were counting on him.

“No, I’m not!” Aang shouted. Did he sound as whiny to her as he did to himself? Was this how he always sounded? “I love you! Zuko has attacked your village, attacked us, tried to capture me –!”

“You don’t know anything.” Katara snapped. “You do not get to use that against him – don’t even dare.”

Katara defended Zuko so resolutely that Aang took a step back, almost afraid that she’d water-whip him.

Aang was losing her.

“Madam Wu said that you’d marry a powerful Bender! I’m the most powerful Bender there is!”

Katara frowned at him. “You heard that?” her eyebrows furrowed. “That was private!”

“I just…” Aang’s voice cracked. It wasn’t fair. “You’re not even giving me a chance. I love you – isn’t that enough?”  

He didn’t want to be alone.

--

Aang was looking at her with such large eyes, pleading. But Katara was too angry to be swayed by them. But she took a breath, trying to calm herself imagining a simple flow of water.

“No, it isn’t.”

“I gave up more than Zuko ever did!” Aang’s voice hemmed with a painful-sounding whine.

“He became a traitor to his country, Aang! They’ll execute him if they ever capture him! Does that mean anything to you? All of us are risking our lives here! Or what, do you only care about what affects you?!”

Katara looked at Aang disbelievingly. She couldn’t believe Aang would say something like that! As if her affections gauged on how much someone personally sacrificed.

Aang looked admonished. He sniffed, wiping his face on the back of his sleeve.

He didn’t look the least bit regretful, though. Just sad and disappointed, like – like he didn’t get it. Refused to get it.

Frustrated, angry, and most of all hurt; Katara’s breath hitched so painfully. Aang just wouldn’t listen.

--

Aang was losing the argument – this was his first argument with Katara, wasn’t it? It was Zuko’s fault.

Wasn’t it?

He was trying to think – trying to bide more time just so he’d –

“You want to know why I’m doing this?!” Katara was yelling, and tears were streaming down her face – Katara was crying because of him.

“Because it’ll help the people of Xīn Yuè, the Fire Nation, and the South! I’m doing this because I’m thinking of other people, Aang! You were only thinking of yourself! Again! You hid that important letter to Bato! And when you ran away because you found out you were the Avatar!

 You are selfish, Aang!”

Aang reeled back as if he’d been slapped.

Katara covered her mouth with a shaking hand as if surprised by what she’d said. She stepped back, further away than ever before.

“I-I…” Katara was shaking. Her shaking breath was a whisper. “I didn’t…I shouldn’t have said that.”

Aang’s voice was small. “Do you love him?”

--

That…that was the question, wasn’t it?

The indescribable thing that Katara felt whenever she looked at Zuko. The warmth and happiness that bloomed within her chest.

The little things like how he helped her out without being asked. How he interacted with the others – his patience with Aang and Toph, and how he humored Sokka.

The ways he interacted with little kids – he was so careful.

The way he looked at her and smiled, just for her.

How strong he was in more ways than one.

His determination and bravery – the honor that he carried himself with –

The scar that showed him bravery and compassion –

She loved him – and regrettably, that full realization came at an inopportune time. Because she wanted Zuko to be the first one to hear her say it. But now, it felt like it had been ruined, somehow, and she couldn’t say it today.

“Even if I didn’t, I’d still marry him.” She kept her voice firm but filled with determination. Confirming Aang’s question without answering.

Because she wasn’t thinking of herself. There was so much to consider – the people she and Zuko could help and all the ways they would be able to rebuild. Almost, almost she nearly shoved that in Aang’s face just to make sure he knew exactly how she felt.

Aang looked defeated. Katara didn’t know what to say. Should she apologize?

The frustration had built up because Aang had refused to accept her answer and he’d insisted – and then she’d learned he’d lied. The hurt and the betrayal had manifested itself into cruel words to make sure Aang truly understood and to make him back off.

There was a part of her that didn’t feel any guilt whatsoever for what she’d said, though there were things she regretted saying.

“You need to master the Avatar State, Aang. I’m not helping you with it ever again.” Katara sniffed, wiping her face.

--

She was turning away, leaving – she was crying because of him.

Katara walked away. Aang nearly reached out for her, he could apologize, couldn’t he? But then he remembered everything she’d said leading up to:

“You are selfish, Aang!”

It had been spoken with such harsh accusation.

His hand dropped to his side.

He watched as Katara hurried up the path to join the others.

Aang was left alone.

Chapter Text

Sitting on some rocks a good distance away, Aang hugged his knees; watching as Katara and Zuko prepared for the ceremony. He wanted to avoid everyone.

The scene from earlier played in his mind. His admitting what he’d done to Katara and her reaction. It had been humiliating. He thought of the things he should have said instead, and how he desperately wished Katara would have responded.

The different scenarios played perfectly in his mind.

But a cruel reality heavy in its hurt played out in front of him. It felt more like a nightmarish dream where everything was foggy, and his movements were sluggish. He wished everything that had happened on the beach had all been a terrible dream and he’d wake up to a world where everything had been the way it was before.

Before Zuko had joined them.

Katara looked happy, and Zuko was smiling a bit, too.

They both were sitting facing opposite directions. Miruka knelt down and held something up, showing Katara and Zuko. Aang couldn’t tell what it was, but it glinted in the available light. Both of them nodded and Miruka put the object in their joined hands, which were then tied together with a ribbon.

The ribbon was long enough that it wrapped around their elbows all the way down to their wrists. A string of stones and seashells were then tied around their arms. Vulna and Ied sat next to the couple and set out bowls.

Others who were gathered began to play drums and wood instruments; and a few began to sing a vocalizing chant.

The ceremony was obviously a big deal. He’d wanted Katara to witness an Air Nomad tattoo ceremony one day. But there was no reason for her to do that anymore was there? Not when…

Aang was curious, but he didn’t want to go down there and ask. Not when he wanted to be the one that Katara was---

Aang jumped in to save Katara. He was her rescuer. She had been coerced, or tricked, or—

He swept Katara into his arms. She was relieved, and Zuko was angry and disappointed that he lost Katara. He yelled numerous insults and fire shot out of his mouth and he stomped his feet petulantly and Katara stuck her tongue out at him. She turned back to Aang, her eyes so full of love and joy—

Katara looked up at Aang, and her blue eyes shown like the sun sparkling in the sea. She would finally tell him –

“You’re selfish, Aang.”

Her eyes were filled with bitter, angry tears. The expression on her face was one that displayed equal parts shame and horror at what she’d just said to him.

She released Aang. She was not crying because he’d rescued her from a terrible fate.

Aang winced, the words loomed over him like a heavy, suffocating weight. Silently cursing his own imagination, which would not even let him have a fantasy where everything was supposed to be perfect and right with the world.

Katara’s expression around him was now reserved, and she hadn’t really looked at him. Not since the words she’d spoken haunted him and her – she looked guilty.

“I shouldn’t have said that.”

It was Zuko’s fault. Everything had been fine until Zuko came along and ruined things. Aang had been Katara’s friend first. If anyone deserved to marry Katara it was--

“You’re selfish, Aang.”

Aang hid his face in his knees.

He thought about what he’d said to Aki and his brother – and Aki’s reaction. He hadn’t meant it – not in the way it sounded. He’d spoken without thinking. Well – he’d just needed to explain himself. But…

“You’re selfish, Aang.”

No-one had said anything to Aang, so maybe neither of them had told anyone else.

Which was a relief. He didn’t think he had the right words to try and explain what he meant. He doubted anyone would listen, anyway. He’d just meant…well… it was just that Katara and Zuko’s cultures were so different, and…

His heart hung heavy, cold, and betrayed. He felt shame. Most of all because he’d lost Katara. But also because Sokka was clearly annoyed and all-too-obviously was being forcibly polite. Toph bluntly told Aang that she was too angry at him and didn’t want to be anywhere near him at the moment for the sake of his own well-being.

Zuko hadn’t really said much. He’d just looked disappointed. Zuko’s silence and expression cut far deeper than if he’d said anything at all. Aang wished Zuko would yell at him. Give him something, anything so that Aang could justifiably yell back and argue and defend himself.

Let the others see Zuko for who he truly was.

What was so special about Zuko that Katara chose him? Aang had been a much better friend, hadn’t chased Katara and Sokka around the world--

“You’re selfish, Aang.”

Momo chirped at Aang, looking concerned.

“I think I really messed up, Momo.” Aang whispered.

He didn’t know how to fix this.

---

He wasn’t sure exactly how long the ceremony had been going on for, but it’d felt like hours. Maybe it hadn’t been that long.

“Hey Aang,” a voice said quietly, but just loud enough to be heard. “There you are.”

He looked up to see Miruka holding out a hand to him. “Come with me. There’s more than enough witnesses, here. I think we should talk.”

Aang cast a longing final look at Katara. Her face scrunched ever-so-slightly in pain as Ied and the other tattoo artists worked. He turned away, feeling as if it was too physically painful to do so.

“You’re selfish, Aang.”

The words hung like lead weights over him. Clawing, dragging him down.

Miruka led Aang to a small tide pool. She sat on the edge and placed her feet in.

The ceremony was far enough away, and the voices of the people were muffled enough that they blended into the sounds of the ocean.

“Have a seat,” Miruka said, waving her hand to indicate Aang could choose wherever.

Aang huffed quietly as he sat down an arm’s length away, but he didn’t stick his feet into the pool.

“That was certainly something on the beach, earlier.”

Aang visibly winced at Miruka’s bluntness, and he cringed at the memory of his and Katara’s fight.

“You really like Katara that much, huh?”

Aang sniffed. His eyes burned with the threat of tears.

“I love her.” Aang inwardly cringed at the petulance in his own voice.

He looked down into the water that reflected the Moon in the night sky. He wiped his face with a sleeve and muttered a bitter, “…Zuko ruined everything.”

Aang had ruined everything too, but Zuko had more of a hand in ruining stuff. At least, that was what Aang told himself. The list of ruined things that Zuko had a hand in was petty, and mostly involved Katara.

Miruka only hummed and held out a small bag. “It’s a type of dried sour fruit. You can have the whole thing.”

Aang mumbled a quiet, “Thanks,”

“You wanna know something?”

She pulled at a small stream of water and laced it around her fingers and between her hands. It was oddly mesmerizing, like watching a small fish. He wondered if Katara would…

She glanced at Aang from the corner of her eye. “…Did you know that I have a crush on Zuko?”

“You…do?”

“A big one,” she replied with a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “It freakin’ sucks to see the person you love with someone else.”

“Yeah…”  

Aang suddenly had an idea: they could disrupt the ceremony – was that why Miruka was telling him this – maybe they could both get what they want –

“You’re selfish Aang.” Katara’s words continued to loom over him, sounding increasingly harsh.

“When Zuko first came to Xīn Yuè, I thought he was so cool with his attitude and his scar. I was imaging us getting married.” Miruka smiled sadly. “I was disappointed that he didn’t stay. And then I heard he was back…And it felt like a twisted knife to the gut when I learned he was married to someone else.”

So, she understood. Why wasn’t she fighting for Zuko if she loved him so much?

Aang wanted to tell her that it was all a lie. But he stayed silent because his traitorous tongue felt too heavy. He said nothing. Because he had a piece of that sour fruit slices in his mouth. Because Miruka was still talking. Because Katara’s words sounded ever so harshly in the back of his mind.

“It was hearing these trade deals and everything, that I realized something. Marrying Katara is Zuko’s chance to go home. It was what he talked about more than anything back then. He made the Fire Nation sound like this huge, impossible dream. He wanted it so desperately.”

Miruka let the water she’d been bending fall into the pool.

“This thing he has with Katara…it opens the world to us and helps the Southern Tribe.”

Aang clenched his fist tightly. He could help Katara like that, too!

Couldn’t he?

Miruka reached over and squeezed his shoulder.

“If Zuko had decided to marry me…none of that would have been possible. We could have made things work, I think. I would have been happy. But…marrying me would have been him giving up on everything that drove him forward. He would have settled. Relationships are a lot of compatibility and compromise, but nobody wants to be settled for.”

He looked over at Miruka. How could someone look so sad, and yet…just accept the heartbreak? Especially when it felt so painful. Shouldn’t people fight for the one they love and show them why they’re making a mistake choosing someone else?

Except…he couldn’t deny that Katara and Zuko truly did seem happy together. He just wished Katara could have been happy with him, instead of…

“I gave them a pretty stone to carve at a later time…as a kind of blessing, I guess,” she then punched his arm and forced a smile. “Anyway, I’m leaving this place and going South!”

“Even though you love Zuko, you’d…give up, just like that?” Aang asked.

Miruka snorted. “It’s not about giving up. What I’m telling you all this for is…sometimes, you gotta accept that the person you love, no matter how much you love them, isn’t compatible with you. Because realistically, some things just aren’t gonna pan out.

“Hate to break it to you, kid.” Miruka reached over and took one of the sour fruit pieces and popped it into her mouth. “A Water Tribe girl and an Air Nomad just wouldn’t work, ‘specially with the Nomads’ unique reproduction system and all.”

“What?” Aang’s voice cracked in a mix of confusion and indignation in response to Miruka’s comment.

“Miruka! I need your help with something over here, please!” a voice called.

“Coming!” Miruka stood and flicked the water off herself. “I gotta go. Look, don’t let your hurt affect the relationship with your friends any more than it already has.”

She waved a casual goodbye and ran off towards the person who had called her. She briefly turned to call out, “And apologize!”

Miruka turned the corner and out of sight.

“What does my being an Air Nomad have to do with it?” Aang mumbled. “Why can’t we make things work? It’s just…it’s not fair.”

00

Vulna and Ied took on the roles that that the bride and groom’s mothers normally did. Since Katara and Zuko were already “married”, and Vulna and Ied weren’t native Wet-Foot, they didn’t really have to do any major parts of the ceremony.

Vulna worked on Zuko’s tattoo, while Ied worked on Katara’s.

Both she and Zuko had discussed what tattoos they would get to represent themselves.

Zuko figured that if the tattoos were such a big deal, whatever they decided on had to fully signify their importance, taking their personal goals into heavy consideration.

There were a few other people on either side of them. Katara couldn’t exactly see what everyone was doing. She couldn’t turn her head to look at what the people who would be working on her tattoo without risking messing it up for herself and Zuko.

She knew that Ied was inking the tattoo, while others were healing and helping guide the ink.

Zuko had decided on a wolf-lizard for Katara. He’d told her they were extremely difficult to tame; but once their master had earned their trust, they were fiercely loyal and protective creatures. In the Fire Nation, they also represented healing, renewal, and change.

For Zuko, Katara had decided on a penguin-jellyfish. They were swift and deadly with their highly poisonous stings. In her Tribe, they represented resilience, adaptability, unity, and lasting love.

Katara couldn’t read the odd series of lines and dashes, which looked like an intricate pattern. It looked so delicate if a person didn’t know what they were looking at they might think it was nothing more than a fancy pattern.

The stone that Miruka had given them still felt cool to the touch in her and Zuko’s hands.

-=-=-=-

The ceremony was still going on. The stars and the full Moon shown down on them brightly. Several people had circled where Zuko and Katara were sitting and held fire in their hands for the tattoo artists.

Zuko was used to sitting still in one spot, though he could tell that Katara was starting to get stiff and uncomfortable.

“Not much longer,” Ied assured her, and the other tattoo artist next to her nodded in agreement. From the corner of his eye, Zuko could see Katara grimace. He very briefly gave her hand an assuring squeeze, and she returned it.

Zuko allowed his mind to wander. He thought about where they’d go from here, and showing Katara his mother’s garden if it was still there – a small part of him worried about Ozai and Azula, but with everyone else there, he wasn’t alone. What about Aang? Would he master the Avatar State in time? Would he be okay without it? He could already imagine what Uncle would say when he would finally properly introduce Katara. Would Katara’s Tribe accept him, especially after his disastrous introduction?

He took a deep breath, calming his nerves. He wasn’t alone in this.

--

The people worked fast, and much to Katara’s visible relief, they were finally unbound from each other and allowed to stand.

Zuko looked at the tattoo on Katara’s arm, taking in the sight of the wolf-lizard. It looked fierce and protective with snarling teeth and splayed claws as it seemingly climbed up her arm. It was surrounded by his words; his promises to her.

 He twisted his arm slightly to look at the penguin-jellyfish and Zuko smiled a little.

Katara stretched, and then reached over to trace her fingers on Zuko’s tattoos.

“It makes you look even more like a badass.” Katara said with a grin.

Everyone then returned to their homes to rest. It was in the early hours of the morning since the Waterbenders had worked all night. The process was typical, and since they had more than one person working on the tattoos and healing along the way, they were already done.

Katara’s expression was shy as she settled next to Zuko on their cot.

“I guess this makes it…us…truly official, huh?” she asked. She breathed out and bit her lip.

“…Yeah.” Zuko agreed. It suddenly felt very…awkward wasn’t the word he’d use to describe it. “There’s no going back after this.”

“We’re going to meet my dad after this.” Katara’s voice was just loud enough to be heard. She didn’t sound very happy about it. “And we’ll have to tell him…”

“If I said I wasn’t nervous, I’d be lying.”

Katara hummed.

“How are you doing, by the way?” Zuko asked. “Um, after everything with Aang.”

They hadn’t really had a chance to talk about it.

After they had left Katara and Aang alone to talk, several people were looking at Zuko and the others questioningly. He’d wanted to explain – something, anything to explain that he and Katara weren’t using them for personal gain or something.

“You didn’t explain to the kid about your relationship?” Aki asked. Zuko could tell by his expression that he was giving some kind of opening to mollify the others’ obvious questions.

“I…we…thought he knew…” Zuko replied quietly. He wasn’t sure if the tone of his voice was convincing.

“The nature of your relationship should have been obvious to him all the way back in Ba Sing Se.” Toph interjected with a snort. “Twinkletoes does tend to be dense.”

Aki with all of his bluntness and a mix of complaining told the others an abbreviated version of Zuko and Katara’s relationship. Toph also threw in a few of her own observations and opinions that backed up what Aki was saying.

Sokka simply stated, “I’m more concerned about the glowy-Avatar-thing to be honest.”

One of the elders spoke up after Toph and Aki had explained things. “The Avatar is truly a child.”

It sounded like an insult hedged around a sad observation.

Katara approached them, alone. She had been crying. Not knowing what else to say, and fearing he’d only somehow make things worse, Zuko pulled her into his arms. He didn’t complain when he felt Toph and even Sokka join in.

“Don’t get used to this,” Toph’s muffled voice sounded from Zuko’s right side.

---

“I’m angry and disappointed, he lied – and I said some things – I really hurt his feelings.” Katara’s voice was tight. “A part of me doesn’t really know how to act around him, anymore. Should I be nice? Indifferent? I know you can handle it if he talks to you a certain way, but what if I treat him so differently that I hurt him even worse? What if I say something that makes him run away and he doesn’t master the Avatar State?”

Katara’s worries clearly had been weighing on her mind, and she no longer had a tattoo ceremony to distract her from them.

“So, what you’re saying is there’ll be so much tension even Toph could see it.”

Katara stared at Zuko wide-eyed before she burst out laughing – and she smacked Zuko’s chest.

“…Toph would be proud of that one.”

They would be okay.

---

Toph could feel the tension in the air.

Today, she, Katara, Zuko, Sokka, and Aang would all gather onto Appa. Together.

On one hand, did things seriously have to be so freaking awkward? But on the other hand, milking the drama and teasing the others would be entertaining.

They’d be spending however long trapped on Appa’s saddle which would suddenly feel so much smaller and cramped. Toph took a sip of her water to hide her smirk.

They’d fly to go meet Chief Hakoda’s ship where Aang would drop them off. They’d explain the situation to the Chief, and they’d take a ship or two to pick up any members of the Wet Foot Tribe who agreed to fight in the War (and eventually travel South.)

Aang would return to the Guru and truly master the Avatar State.

Katara was being…weird wasn’t exactly the right word to describe it. She was being overly polite with Aang, but clearly was trying to navigate how she should interact with him. She was far too serious and firm at times and edged on snappiness.

Very similar to a stressed and disappointed mother, Toph didn’t say aloud. Because she didn’t want any unnecessary attention on her. Not yet, anyway.

In fact, it started to become blatantly obvious that Katara was only speaking to Aang if and when she absolutely had to. It was Zuko who took over talking to Aang, telling him everything that Katara normally would have done.

It was such a dad thing to do.

Aang was most definitely upset and pouting. His muttered grumblings about his stupid decisions didn’t escape Toph’s sensitive hearing.

Maybe Toph should mention to Aang that he was giving Zuko and Katara plenty of practice for their future children. Just to see how he’d react – but also maybe it’d get him to not have such a pouty stick shoved up his butt.

Or…it’d make things worse for Aang while making Zuko and Katara react. Maybe Aang deserved a few well-pointed jibes.

If this was how things were going to be when they hadn’t even left yet, the thought of spending several days all cramped together on a saddle thousands of feet up in the air with all this drama was certainly going to be interesting.

Would this be wonderfully entertaining or a horrible temptation to dive from the saddle to escape the oncoming wave of worsening uncomfortable tension?

“Wow guys, this is just like um…uh…” Sokka’s voice pitched, and he cleared his throat. “…never mind.”

“Let’s make sure everything’s packed and ready to go.” Zuko’s voice was firm, and his tone clearly made no room for argument.

A heavy sigh from Aang was probably why.

00

The residents had packed plenty of food and a few spare sets of clothing, and said their goodbyes.

Aang followed suit as the others bowed with several rounds of thanks and farewells. There were promises that they’d see each other again, give or take a few weeks.

Once everyone had settled onto Appa, Aang gave the most unenthusiastic, “Yip-yip.”

He ignored how Katara and Zuko both settled next to each other. Both Sokka and Toph pointed it out. The former was complaining, while the latter was teasing.

He ignored that, too.

None of them really spoke. Unless it was a request for a quick bathroom break or wondering how much longer they had to travel.

If there was any conversation, it wasn’t loud enough so Aang could hear. Of course, he didn’t think they were purposefully excluding him. On his part, he was just focused on…

“You’re selfish, Aang.”

His attention was constantly being pulled elsewhere.

---

The days went on into a certain routine.  

Zuko got Aang first, because he needed to wake up at sunrise. So there were times of meditation and hot-squats and other fire-related exercises.

Katara made sure that Aang would practice his waterbending, but she was cool towards him. She no longer would touch him to help correct his stance.

In fact, she snapped at him once, “You already know this! We’ve gone over this several times before!”

Toph drove Aang much harder and was more strict in her teaching, leaving Aang exhausted and sore once training was done.

That routine had been pretty consistent, until it suddenly was disrupted by a fight.

Katara and Zuko stood at a distance away where the others couldn’t hear them.

Katara’s hands were on her hips, and she lifted one hand to point at Zuko. Aang waited – she might need backup from the others. Zuko would show his true colors soon enough.

(Except…Sokka and Toph didn’t seem that concerned.)

Zuko’s arms were crossed and he loomed over Katara, glaring and he was obviously about to bend fire at her – Katara would cry out – the unexpected but not surprising betrayal –

Actually…maybe she shouldn’t get hurt. Not like that.

Katara and Zuko both walked back to their little campfire, and they didn’t look happy. Both got their food and sat down, and then held hands as they ate.

“…Did you two have a fight?” Toph asked, not bothering to hide her scheming glee. “What was it about?”

“It’s personal.” Katara replied stiffly.

“None of your business.” Zuko responded.

“Boo, you’re both so stingy.”

Sokka didn’t say anything, except sigh.

Aang wanted this to be a serious fight – one where she would come to seek comfort and advice, and he would be the one who…

“You’re selfish, Aang.”

Even while they cleaned up after dinner, Katara and Zuko still insisted on holding hands and working together in some sort of team effort. They both were oddly quiet throughout.

The couple went into their rock tent right after cleaning up after dinner, still holding hands.

Sokka huffed and muttered, “I wonder what happened…”

“Why were they doing that?” Aang asked.

Sokka laid back and laced his fingers behind his head. “Back home, whenever we had an argument with someone, we had to hold hands and work together. Guess it was serious enough Katara felt they had to.”

---

The next day, Katara and Zuko both looked happier, and were back to their usual selves. In fact, a part of Aang noticed that there was something in their smiles and their interactions.

Aang and Toph were ordered to help with the food. Aang chopped a plate of fruit and veggies, and his servings were carefully set to the side while meat was being prepared.

“I know what you did~” Toph’s singsong voice sounded, just as Katara was taking a drink and Zuko was taking a bite of food. Both of them began coughing and choking, and blabbering out excuses or something, and their faces were red.

“We thought you were asleep!” Katara snapped.

“You’re grounded.” Zuko grit through his teeth.

“That’s how I was woken up – by the…vibrations.” Toph was grinning. “Can’t hide anything from me.”

“Hey, I’m eating here!” Sokka complained.

“I’m just saying – you might wanna get a little farther away next time.”

Aang looked at them in confusion.

Conversations now flowed a little more easily, but Katara was still so distant with him.

He remembered Miruka’s words of advice, and he knew that he should apologize. Excuses as to why he shouldn’t, and how the others were wrong sounded in the back of his mind. He wanted to fix things. He wanted things to go back to the way they were before.

But…there was no going back from this, was there?

00

Chief Hakoda would call himself a rational man.

When he had received word from King Kuei the news about Ba Sing Se, that was truly terrible. When he was informed that Prince Zuko of all people had gone against Princess Azula, there was plenty of confusion. There was also some talk about Sokka and Katara going to seek help from a Tribe of Waterbenders, which was nothing more than a passing sentence or two.

When the Avatar and his beloved children landed at Chamilion Bay, he was overjoyed.

Hakoda hugged his children tightly, noticing how much they’ve grown.

Of course, there was understandably some suspicion about Prince Zuko being there.

“Hello, sir.” Zuko said with a wave. “Prince Zuko here. You probably already know that. But, um – I’m probably not a prince anymore--”

Zuko was cut off when Katara gripped his arm. She looked up at her father very seriously and said, “Dad, this is Zuko – um, Prince of the Fire Nation and my husband.”

“…What?” Hakoda wondered if he was hearing things. Was this some sort of strange joke? Was this getting back at him for something?

“We got married.” Katara pulled up a flowy sleeve to show off a tattooed arm, and Prince Zuko did the same; showing an intricately tattooed arm.

“M-married?” Hakoda repeated.

Everything began to spin and his world went black as he fainted; and the panicked voices of those around him faded out.