The tears slip down his face, but Katara knows better. He speaks of honor, of fidelity, of loyalty, but here he is, pinned to the wall by ice spikes and barely able to meet Katara's eyes.
"Your letters broke every bit of me," he murmurs. But it's flat, emotionless, and Katara is fairly certain that's not how a broken man should sound. Not when he's read pages upon pages of how she hated him, how she loved him, and how she hates him. The Zuko she knows could never be so lifeless. Yet here they are.
"They were hard to write," she replies, staring at him. She's just so tired, and somehow she doesn't have the energy to be angry with him. "But you cheated on me, Zuko, and you lied about it."
He nods. "I understand. I have nothing left to lie about. Everything she told you is true." His eyes look dead, his speech falls from his lips like rocks, as if he's shutting down.
Katara draws a deep breath. Her voice quivers. "Did you think I wouldn't find out?"
"No. You're smart."
"I'm smart?!" Katara jerks forward, her stare turning stony and her body stiffening as if she's been attacked. "That's all you have to say?"
"I have nothing to say, Katara. I regret everything."
He's just saying things now. His eyes are red and he's slumped against the wall, held up only by the ice pinning him there, and she hasn't seen him this miserable since the Western Air Temple. She let him in eventually; her mistake.
If he regrets everything, he regrets the nights they talked about anything and everything until they fell asleep. He regrets the day they made egg rolls and dumplings after the kitchen staff went home. He regrets when they drank his father's wine (or he did. She couldn't stand the taste). He regrets dancing badly and kissing hard and running through the halls like children. He regrets holding her when she wept over her father's capture and begged him to do something, and he regrets smiling at her when Sokka made a fool of himself in a negotiation.
But maybe it's better if he regrets it, she muses. He's made a fool of her, and Katara feels like she's lost her equilibrium. They'll move on. They have to. Zuko has betrayed her for the last time. Katara releases him from the wall.
"You don't need to tell me, Katara. I know."
She nods, and when she walks out of his door (life), she doesn't look back.
Instead, she looks forward, because when she gets home the New Ozai Society has released her father. Some random act of mercy, they said. To celebrate the Fire Lord's marriage to a Fire Nation woman. Katara snorts that she doesn't much care why they've released Dad, so long as they did.
She would have given anything to get him back, she says.
He wishes she wouldn't say things like that, he says. Her father touches her neck where Zuko's betrothal necklace used to rest.
It occurs to her, years after her friends are gone and her hair has turned white and she's not so angry and hurt anymore, that the only way for a woman to be divorced without dishonor in the Fire Nation is by her husband's adultery.
AN: That last thing I just made up like two seconds ago. Nobody freak out and go digging through Fire Nation law scrolls. Also, I know, I haven't updated NGL in a while (college is fun, guys), but I'm working on it. Will hopefully update in March. No promises, but I'll do my best. Anyway, let me know if there are any strong feelings on this. It kind of got out of hand and turned into something very different than I intended.