They are murmuring worries to each other. He doesn't bother to listen. Restless feet wander; he doesn't have to be Toph to sense that. They're all nervous, scared even. If they can't find Aang before the comet arrives... There's no use thinking about that.
Zuko's the only one knowing where they're headed, the only one who knows how to find June. So he's the only one not distracted.
"Where could he have gone to?" Katara whispers, pacing back and forth. Appa grunts; he doesn't like the movement.
"He often disappears before an important battle," Sokka reminds them. "It's perfectly reasonable. He'll show up."
"I can't shake the feeling he's still unsure about killing Ozai," Suki says, not sure she should be voicing that thought.
"I know. I mean, he can't be pure evil, can he?" Katara murmurs.
Zuko sucks in a breath. "You're wrong." So wrong, so wrong.
"What do you mean? I'm thinking, maybe Aang's right. He can't be so bad. People simply aren't that way," Toph said.
Zuko stands, letting Appa's reins fall from his hand. He stumbles back onto the saddle. "My father... You can't understand the magnitude of cruelty in him. That's who he is."
"Maybe he is a horrible person. But does he deserve to die?" Sokka asks.
Yes. Of course he deserves to die, Zuko tells himself. "There's something I've never mentioned to you guys. You don't know..." He trails off – he never meant to share this. "You don't know how I got my scar."
As he says this, Toph reaches out a hand, feeling her way along Zuko's face until she finds his scar, almost to make sure it's still there.
"How?" Katara asks, almost a whisper.
"I know my father is evil, because I got this," he breathes, gesturing violently at his face. "I know because I have to live with it every day, to remember. I know that Ozai is cruel, and horrible, because of what he did to me."
There's a moment of pregnant silence, as this sinks in. No one realized that the scar was Ozai's doing.
"My father challenged me, a thirteen year old boy, to an Agni Kai. For speaking out of turn. Speaking out of turn! Most children get a scolding and no supper. When I pleaded not to fight him, he taught me a lesson." He swallows, barely able to continue. "And I've learned it. He banished me, he scarred me. Literally. And figuratively. He is evil, no matter what you say. I know that, firsthand."
Everyone just stares. No one knows what to say.
"How could he do that?" Suki finally asks, barely intelligible.
"He did it because I wasn't worth keeping. He didn't want me. And I don't want him." Zuko glares at them, daring someone to speak. Of course, no one does. So Zuko returns to the reins, steers Appa in the right direction, and pretends he's said nothing. The silence remains, although eventually Katara gets up and starts pacing again. There aren't words created to say something in this situation.
Ozai will get what he deserves, either at the hands of the avatar or at the hands of his own son. Zuko knows that.
A single tear slides down his good cheek, because his scarred eye doesn't remember how to cry.