In a New Light
Chapter 1 - Confrontations
-/\/\/\/\/\/\-
It had taken several hours for Appa to fly them all from the Western Air Temple to their new cliffside campsite on the coast of the Earth Kingdom. Katara couldn't believe that the Fire Nation had separated her family again. Sokka and Zuko had just freed her father from prison two days ago and she already said goodbye again. She was quiet the whole trip over, worrying how far her dad and the rag-tag group of allies could have gotten. Haru would have been able to earthbend a tunnel long enough to get them a safe distance away from Azula, but where would they go after that? There was the airship Sokka and Zuko had stolen from the Boiling Rock, but there was no way to know whether Azula had gotten to it first, she could have blown it up or taken it for herself.
These thoughts were swirling around Katara's head all afternoon, accompanied by a huge stone of dread in her gut. When they landed here half an hour ago she said nothing and immediately got working on unpacking Appa's saddle and setting up her tent.
"Katara, I'm starving! Can't we make dinner before we set up camp? We've been travelling all day!" Sokka whined at her in a light tone while Appa groaned and flopped down on to his stomach in agreement with Sokka's request for food.
Katara huffed angrily in response and continued putting stakes in the ground. How is he in such a normal mood after everything that happened today? Azula's surprise attack is just another reminder that the war is always going on all around them. The Fire Nation kills their mother, separates them from their father for a third time, and all her dear brother can think about is food!
"Whew, okay someone's got their panties in a twist. Suki, you're a girl! You can make us dinner, right?" Sokka exclaimed happily.
Suki lightly hit him across the shoulder with a small smile, "Come on Sokka, we're past this, just cause I'm a girl doesn't mean I can cook. Honestly, I'm really terrible at it."
Katara started to tune out their conversation, she didn't really care who made dinner, she was sure it would get done eventually, and she wasn't hungry anyway. After she threw the cloth over the poles to finish her tent she immediately started setting up Suki's tent next to hers. She needed to keep her hands and mind busy to help keep her anger and worry in check. And to stop Sokka from nagging her about dinner.
In the escalating argument about who should be cooking, she heard Zuko's calm voice, "I can make dinner if you guys want. I can really only boil water for rice and tea, but it looks like that's all there really is anyway."
"Only rice!? No meat!? What is this day coming to!?" Sokka shouted as he flopped onto the ground in mock despair.
"Come on Sokka, life isn't all about meat! In fact, my life isn't about meat at all!" Aang said cheerfully. "Rice and tea sound great Zuko!"
Katara clenched her fists and had to steel herself for a moment. She was surprised and how angry she was getting. She hadn't really expected Aang to be affected by leaving the air temple so suddenly, but Sokka was acting like it was no big deal that their dad was gone again and they had no idea when, or if, they would ever see him again. And Zuko was the calmest of them all, it was like he didn't care that his sister had tried to kill him, and almost killed them all in the process - he didn't care that his family, his whole country for that matter, were the reason that her family was ripped apart again.
She almost wished she hadn't caught him earlier today when he fell off the airship after fighting Azula. Katara would have left the saving-Zuko's-life to someone else entirely if he didn't push her out of the way of those falling rocks this morning. At the time she thought the brief graze of his hand on her breast when he tackled her was an accident, a byproduct of him saving her, but now that her anger was getting the best of her she thought it might have been intentional. No, she thought as she took a deep breath through her nose and relaxed her hands, I wouldn't have let him fall. She doesn't trust him, but she wouldn't just let him to die either.
The wind started to pick up and was threatening to blow over the tents that she was still putting together. She was able to convince Toph to earthbend a wall on the coastal side of each tent so that they would be protected from the harsh sea winds. Even they have been traveling together for a while now, Katara still usually had to make a big scene to get Toph to help with any of the group's chores, but tonight she had been relatively easy to convince. Katara wondered if the earthbender could feel the anger radiating off Katara and just didn't bother arguing. Or maybe she gets freaked out by the wind? Katara thought off handedly. If she wasn't in such a sour mood she probably would have said something to that effect just to see if she could get a rise out of Toph.
They finished with the tents right as Zuko finished cooking the rice, and they joined the rest of the group around the newly made fire pit.
"Katara look! I helped Zuko make the tea using firebending!" Aang said, handing her a nice warm cup as she sat down.
"That's great Aang," her tone was a little clipped, but she gave him a small smile to let him know she wasn't mad at him. He had been training with Zuko for almost two weeks now, but he was still just as excited as he was the very first time he made fire. Even though she was upset about everything that had happened today she found it was really difficult to be mad at Aang. She admired his ability to find excitement and fun in almost every situation – something she was struggling more and more with lately.
"Wow camping. It really seems like old times again doesn't it?" Aang said to the group as they all settled in to their food.
"If you really want it to be like old times I could, ah, chase you around awhile, try to capture you," Zuko said casually as he broke apart a piece of bread.
The rest of the group laughed easily, but Katara's eyes narrowed and her body stiffened slightly at his ability to talk about the past history so nonchalantly. "Ha, ha," she said sarcastically, to herself.
Sokka raised his cup and toasted, "To Zuko! Who knew all those times he tried to snuff us out, today, he'd be our hero!"
"Hear hear!" the rest of the group cried in unison as Toph and Aang jokingly elbowed Zuko's arms.
Zuko gave a small smile, "I'm touched, I don't deserve this."
It was the sincerity of his humbleness that was the last straw for Katara, she couldn't just sit there and listen to them praise him anymore. Didn't they remember how he betrayed them before? Or the fact that today wouldn't have even happened if they didn't let him join their group?
"Yeah, no kidding," she barely registered everyone's shocked faces as she stood and walked away. She didn't want to look at them all anymore anyway.
"What's with her?" asked Sokka.
"I wish I knew," Zuko stood to follow her as she walked toward the farther cliff's edge.
As she left she felt almost glad that he was following her. She began organizing everything she wanted to say in her head. She wanted to make him feel even a semblance of the pain she had been feeling today. To let him know that this stupid war isn't just about him or his stupid honor or his stupid destiny. His actions, and the actions of his people, have consequences.
She had only been sitting a few moments before she heard him come up behind her. "This isn't fair, everyone else seems to trust me now, what is it with you?" Zuko said exasperated.
"Oh, everyone trusts you now!?" she responded sarcastically, "I was the first person to trust you, remember! Back in Ba Sing Se, and you turned around and betrayed me – betrayed all of us!"
He grimaced in realization, "What can I do to make it up to you?" The shame written across his face gave Katara some satisfaction, but it wasn't enough to quell her anger. He still didn't really get it, he didn't understand the depth of what the Fire Nation had done to her.
"You really wanna know?" she asked rhetorically as she walked toward him, "You could reconquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King! Or I know-" she was right up in his face now and he flinched away from her instinctively, "you could bring my mother back!" She practically spit the last statement at him.
Guilt and disbelief colored his face, it was exactly the reaction she had hoped to get out of him, but she still didn't feel any better. She nudged her shoulder forcefully against his as she stormed past him back toward her tent. He stood frozen behind her and this time didn't make the effort to follow.
She lay flat on her back staring blankly at the fabric of the tent above her, her anger had subsided now that she was alone, and it had been replaced with grating nothingness.
She was vaguely aware of the sound of Suki leaving the tent next to Katara's – probably trying to sneak over and spend the night with Sokka. Katara wondered absentmindedly why Suki was even bothering to be sneaky, it's not like there was any adults around to judge her for wanting to sleep next to her boyfriend. Katara sighed and rolled over on to her side to try and get some sleep. She couldn't stop thinking about her dad and how everything would be okay if he was there with them.
- \/\ -
When she woke up the next morning she was still full of that empty nothing feeling and she considered just lying there for the rest of the day. Ultimately, she decided against it, she knew if she could just make herself busy that eventually she'd start feeling better. She could start making breakfast and the maybe ask Aang if he wanted to do a little waterbending today. They hadn't trained together in a while and she thought it could help soothe her to do something physical. More than anything she just needed to make a plan for herself, everything always got better once she had some organization to her day.
She immediately frowned when she saw a very tired looking Zuko waiting for her outside of her tent. Ugh she didn't want to deal with him today, couldn't he just let her be mad at him in peace?
"You look terrible," she said as she passed by him, to grab her comb out of the bag next to him. She was hoping to end the interaction there and ignore him for the rest of the day, but her mild insult didn't seem to phase him.
"I waited out here all night," he said as he rubbed his eyes. So what, she thought, is that supposed to make me feel bad for you?
"What do you want?"
"I know who killed your mother-" What!? She turned to face him in shock, you can't just say something like that so suddenly! "- and I'm going to help you find him."
She stared at him incredulously. How did he suddenly get this information, and why does he care to help her? He had nothing to gain from this mission other than her potential forgiveness, he didn't actually care about avenging her mother at all. But did that matter? This is an opportunity to face the man who tore her family apart, could she really turn that down just because she was wary of Zuko's motivations? Suddenly she remembered what he had said in the crystal catacombs in Ba Sing Se after she told him that the Fire Nation had taken her mother away from her, "You and I have that in common." Maybe what she had said to him last night had gotten to him more than just making him feel guilty. It was possible that he already had understood her grief and had just not understood why it had surfaced again yesterday, and now he wanted to help her feel better. This was not what she intended when she yelled at him, she was hoping to make him angry enough to leave her alone for the rest of their time as allies – not offer to take her on some monumental quest.
"Uh..Katara?" Zuko said hesitantly. She suddenly realized she was just staring at him opened mouthed.
"How," she was surprised at how calm her voice sounded coming from her lips, "how do you know who he is?"
"I, uh, I talked to Sokka last night, and," he was awkwardly rubbing his hands together and fumbling his words. A few moments ago, he was confident in his statements about her mother's killer, but now he seemed almost embarrassed, like she was going to yell at him again for asking her brother about their family's history. "He told me what happened to her, and uh, he described the flags they have, and I um, I know that group of raiders, and I thought we could go and confront them - if you wanted to, that is." He sort of blurted out that last bit really fast.
She had never seen him so uncomfortable in a social situation before, it was weird and kind of hard to watch, and she realized she had barely ever had a conversation with him that didn't involve at least one of them antagonizing the other. She wasn't really sure how to talk to him when he was fumbling like this.
She decided to just ignore his awkwardness, "Yes, yes I want to. Let's go," she said confidently and then turned again, grabbed her bag, handed it to Zuko and started walking toward Appa. He paused for a moment in surprise at her sudden agreeability, but then followed right behind her.
Aang was feeding Appa some hay while Sokka sat nearby fiddling with a flower lei. Katara mentally rolled her eyes at the flower necklace – looks like Suki successfully snuck into Sokka's tent last night after all. Katara made a mental note to make fun of their couple-y shenanigans some other time, right now she was too focused on the task at hand.
"I need to borrow Appa," she said once she was close enough for Aang to hear.
"Why, is it your turn to take a little field trip with Zuko?" he said jokingly.
She responded seriously, "Yes, it is."
"Oh," he turned around surprised, and Katara thought she saw a flicker of hurt cross over his face, "what's going on?"
"We're going to find the man who took my mother from me," she tried to say it as matter-of-factly as she could, she knew if she said it with too much anger and conviction they would fight her about it. Sokka saw right through her and stood up to join Aang next to Appa.
"Sokka told me the story of what happened, I know who did it, and I know how to find him," Zuko said in response to Aang's still shocked face. He explained more confidently than he had a few minutes ago to Katara, it sounded like he was now just as sure about the journey as she was.
"Um, and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?" Aang asked civilly. Katara was afraid this would happen, he was using his Avatar-keeper-of-the-peace voice; a tone she had heard him use it so many times before and she had always agreed with him in those past situations. But not this time, he didn't understand what it was like to lost a parent, he would never know why she had to do this.
She scoffed, "I knew you wouldn't understand," and she turned to walk away.
"Wait, stop," Aang moved toward her, "I do understand! You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage; how do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa – how do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out about what happened to my people- "
"She needs this Aang," Zuko interrupted.
Katara remembered how Aang had reacted when he found Monk Gyatso's skeleton, and when he found out which sandbender had taken Appa – both times he had involuntarily gone in to the Avatar state, and she had been so scared that he really might kill that sandbender. Both times she had held him to calm him down, to show him that there were still people there who loved him and cared for him and they could get through it all together. Logically, she knew this is what he was trying to do now, that he didn't want her to feel pain just as much as she had wanted to take away his pain in those moments, but she couldn't just let all these feelings go now. She was overflowing with rage and disdain, and she surprisingly found that she agreed with Zuko - she knows she needs to confront this man.
"This is about getting closure, and justice," Zuko continued.
"I don't think so, I think it's about getting revenge," Aang replied to him.
Revenge. Katara had been trying to avoid even thinking that word since Zuko had suggested this whole plan just ten minutes ago. She knew what direct revenge would mean and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know if she was capable of that. But she had to find out, she had to do something.
"Fine! Maybe it is!" She snapped back at him, "Maybe that's what I need, maybe that's what he deserves." Her voice was unwavering, low and cold. She could sense Aang and Sokka stiffen behind her as the realized how serious she really was.
"Katara...you sound like Jet," Aang said.
Ugh, Jet.
"It's not the same," she said with confidence, finally turning around to face them all again, "Jet attacked the innocent, this man – he's a monster."
"Katara, she was my mother too," Sokka said, finally speaking up, "but I think Aang might be right."
"Then you didn't love her the way I did!" she snapped back at him.
"Katara..." the look on Sokka's face made Katara immediately regret saying it, but it was too late now, she made her point clear and she wasn't going to back down. She looked away to help shield herself from her own guilt.
"The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat viper, while you're watching your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself," Aang added philosophically.
He might be right in theory, but he didn't understand how much Katara's emotions were overwhelming her and how real it all feels to her right now. She didn't care if revenge did poison her as well, as long as that man got taken down first.
"That's cute," Zuko said with sarcasm, "but this isn't air temple pre-school, it's the real world."
Katara was surprised how similar Zuko's words were to her own thoughts, she began to think that her suspicions from earlier, that he really did understand, were even more true. The confidence in his words added to her own confidence as well.
"Now that I know he's out there, now that I know we can find him, I feel like I have no choice," this was the crux of it all, the crucial bit that Aang and Sokka weren't understanding. She couldn't go back now, she just couldn't, she's too invested in knowing who this man is, knowing what type of person could destroy in such a terrible way.
"Katara, you do have a choice," Aang said, almost pleading now, "forgiveness."
Zuko took a small step forward, "That's the same as doing nothing." He sounded like he was restraining anger now. Again, Katara was surprised by his passion and commitment to this cause, was he really this intent on earning her forgiveness, or was he hoping for some sort of closure about his own mother?
"No, it's not, it's easy to do nothing. It's hard to forgive," Aang said firmly.
"It's not just hard. It's impossible," Katara stated with finality as she turned around and walked away. She was headed back toward the cliffside where she had yelled at Zuko just last night, but after a moment she realized that he had followed after her. They stopped just past her tent, and she turned around to face him.
When she looked up at him she saw that his eyes were set hard on her face, and she knew that they were already on the same page.
"We're still going," she said firmly.
He gave a slight nod and held her gaze, "we'll leave just after dark. Try to act normally until then."
"Good," Katara said, still not breaking the eye contact. There was a slight pause where they both just stared at each other for a moment. His gaze was piercing and all encompassing, it was like all he was seeing was her. It was an odd moment of understanding, just from the way he was looking at her with such certainty she knew she could rely on him with this and that he was going to stand by her. Yesterday she had wanted to push him off the cliff and now they were making silent pacts to go on revenge crusades. She still wasn't sure if she could fully trust him after everything, but she was grateful that he had been so understanding all day, and hopeful that he wasn't going to let her down again.
After the moment passed he gave another slight nod, dropped the sack of things in front of her tent and went off to presumably continue Aang's firebending training.
- \/\ -
The day was painfully slow. Katara was struggling to act normal with her thoughts consumed with the anticipation of leaving that night. She made a simple breakfast for everyone, and ate in silence while everyone else chatted on around her. She had been planning on doing some waterbending with Aang, but she was still frustrated with him and was afraid that if she spent too much time around him she would give away their plan to leave once everyone was asleep. So instead she spent most of the day making excuses to be by herself, she needed to go pick fruit for dinner, or she wanted to work on some bending forms on her own. She left lunch up to everyone else, they could figure out how to cook one meal by themselves – besides they'd have to get used to it anyway because she was going to be gone for at least a few days.
Now that she thought about it, she didn't even know exactly where they were going. She had no idea how long they were going to be gone, and she hadn't packed up any of her sleeping things, her sleeping mat and some spare underclothes were all still just sitting in her tent. And if they were going to be travelling far they'd need some food for the journey, and some food for Appa as well. The sun was finally getting lower and she was still out in the small forest near their camp looking for some food for the group's dinner. She had found a pear-apple grove and had picked a fair few for the group, but decided to keep most of them for the journey. She could just tell everyone else that there wasn't much to find in the woods and hide the ones she had at the bottom of her sack.
The sun was almost set when she got back to camp and everyone was gathered around the firepit to start eating dinner – it looked like Zuko had made a simple rice dish again. No one seemed to notice her as she slipped inside to quickly roll up her sleeping mat, grab the extra underclothes and some blankets, and shove them in to the sack from this morning that also had her comb and some extra gloves and socks. She considered bringing her winter parka as well, but she figured that a Fire Nation raider wouldn't be anywhere where it was still snowing in the middle of the summer. And it had water tribe written all over it. She threw the pear-apples she had collected into the sack with everything else and decided that it would have to be enough.
As she was finishing tying up the sack she could hear everyone talking as they finished their dinner.
"Wow Zuko, that training today was really tough. Who knew that roundhouse kick move you always do was so tiring?" Aang said.
"Well, that's why I've been telling you to do so many hot squats, so your kicks will be stronger," Zuko responded.
"Yeah but now my legs AND my arms are tired! That move uses a ton of upper body strength too!" Aang groaned.
"Then get some good rest and we can do some less intense training tomorrow," Zuko said nonchalantly.
Had he been drilling Aang extra hard today so that he'd go to sleep earlier? The sun was just behind the horizon now, and it would be better if they could leave as soon as possible. Katara's stomach grumbled and she realized she had only really eaten breakfast today. She was about to head out of her tent to grab some food when she heard Sokka ask about her.
"Has anyone seen Katara? She went out looking for more food hours ago," he asked, concerned.
"I don't know, but I'm worried about her. She was so upset this morning," Aang said.
"She's over in her tent," Toph piped up, "she probably just didn't want to eat with you guys cause you won't let her go and kill that murderer."
Katara heard everyone gasp at Toph's bluntness. Katara felt somewhat shocked too; did Toph really think shewas just going to kill him so casually... She still didn't know what she wanted to do, she just knew she would be sure once she saw him.
"What, I'm just saying you guys can't really tell her what to do, especially when this guy killed her mom," Toph said.
There was a small silence before Aang spoke up again, this time a little quieter.
"I should go check on her, I know she's really hurting and I want to make sure she's okay."
"I don't know if that's a good idea," Zuko said back in a firm voice, "I think she probably just needs some time to herself for a while. We should all just cool off until tomorrow."
There was another small pause. Katara felt a twang of guilt at what Aang had said. She knew that he really did care about her and was just trying his best to make her feel better, he was just going about it all wrong. Zuko was right too, she wanted to avoid talking to Aang for now, and she wanted everyone to go to sleep so that they could sneak off on Appa.
After a moment she heard everyone shift a bit and say their goodnights to each other. Katara noticed that she didn't hear Suki's tent open next to hers, and Katara figured she'd just gone straight in to Sokka's tent. I guess she's not trying to be sneaky anymore.
A few minutes later she heard very faint footsteps outside her tent, so quiet that she wasn't even sure she had heard them until Zuko opened the fabric of the tent and came inside.
"I saved some food for you, but you should probably wait until we're on Appa to eat it," he whispered as he handed her a small covered bowl of rice. He also had a small bundle of fabric in his other hand.
"Thanks," Katara said, matching his whispered tone, glad that he had thought to bring her something, she was quite hungry. "I picked some fruit for us as well, but it'll probably only last us a day or so. And I couldn't really find any food for Appa either."
"That's okay, there's still a lot of the hay that Aang was feeding him earlier, I was going to bundle some of that up to take with us too. And I grabbed a bag of rice and some tea leaves while I was making dinner, so we should be okay on food for a while too," he said very businesslike.
Wow. She was impressed that he seemed to have thought through the whole plan quite a lot. She was now left feeling unprepared.
Not wanting to let on about her under-preparedness, she decided to ask about the bundle of fabric under his arm. "What is all that?" she pointed to his right hand.
He looked down as if he had forgotten he was still holding something. "Oh, I uh, wasn't sure what other clothes you had, and I figured you probably shouldn't be wearing your Water Tribe outfit, and I uh, had an extra black shirt and face covering," he was doing that word fumbling thing again, like he was worried he was going to accidentally offend her by telling her not to wear her traditional blue wrap, "and I uh, thought that it could be useful to you?" He said the last bit like it was a question, asking her if he had done the right thing in bringing it for her.
She was quite glad that she would now have something more discreet to wear, even if he was being weird about it.
"What about you? It probably won't be good to be decked out in Fire Nation red either," she pointed out.
He cleared his throat and gained some confidence back now that she hadn't yelled at him, "I have one for me too, I was going to go get it and start packing up Appa while you changed."
Katara nodded and handed him the now full sack of items and he passed her the bundle of clothes, "good, I'll meet you out there in a few minutes then?"
He nodded in return and silently slipped back out of the tent. Their conversations were all so awkward, they were stiff and to the point. Neither of them really knows how to talk to each other without getting angry at the other, so each interaction today has taken on a strange businesslike tone. Katara supposed this was an okay thing though, she had resigned herself to being his ally, and clear, practical communication was better than none at all.
She looked at the clothes Zuko had given her and there was actually quite a bit to them. The shirt was long and was probably going to be way too big on her, but he had given her a small black sash too that work well as a belt around her waist. She took off her blue dress, replaced it with the shirt and tied it tightly so that it wouldn't billow around too much. The neckline of the shirt was loose like a cowl and she realized that this is what he had meant by a face covering, she could easily pull this up to cover her mouth and could use the excess loose fabric to tie it tighter around her neck so it wouldn't slip down. She tied up her hair and tucked it in to the back of the cowl to test how it would all fit with only her eyes showing. With the fabric covering her nose and mouth she could smell a faint scent of jasmine in it and she suddenly felt a little strange realizing these were Zuko's clothes. Logically she knew they were his - he had just handed them to her - but she hadn't thought about that he had probably worn them before. It was strange, she had never worn someone else's clothes before. But it all seemed to fit well enough, and with the shirt being long enough to cover most of her loose navy-blue pants, her outfit didn't look Water Tribe at all.
She snuck out of her tent and found Zuko bent down next to Appa, rummaging through the sack of things, likely looking for things to pull out to put directly on to Appa's saddle. He was dressed almost identically to Katara, just with his traditional dark red pants under the black shirt instead of her blue.
He looked up when she came over and nodded slightly, "good, looks like it fits you well enough."
She wasn't really sure if he was complimenting her or just stating a fact so she just sort of nodded in response and adjusted the neck of the shirt a bit, it kept tickling her jawbone and wafting hints of jasmine around her nose. She was making sure her hair was tied tightly enough when she heard Aang and Sokka come up behind them.
So much for being sneaky, she thought.
"So, you were just going to take Appa anyway?" Aang asked incredulously.
"Yes."
"It's okay," Aang responded, almost too quickly, "because I forgive you…That give you any ideas!?" He sounded almost cheerful.
She didn't want to have this conversation again, she just wanted to go. "Don't try and stop us."
"I wasn't planning to," Aang's brow furrowed, "this is a journey you need to take, you need to face this man."
Katara was a little surprised that Aang wasn't trying to stop her anymore, maybe he did understand more than she thought he did. The whole time he had just been trying to do what was best for her. She nodded her thanks and climbed up to sit on Appa's head.
"But when you do," Aang continued, "please don't choose revenge. Let your anger out, then, let it go. Forgive him."
"Ookaay, we'll be sure to do that Guru Goody-goody," Zuko responded sarcastically before hopping up on to Appa's saddle behind her. Katara had to stop herself from letting out a small snorting laugh. She agreed with Zuko's sentiment, but she didn't want to belittle Aang for doing what he thought was right.
"Thanks for understanding," she said down to him before facing forward and instructing Appa to fly off.
- \/\ -
After a few minutes flying away from the Earth Kingdom coast she realized she had no idea where they were heading.
"Okay Mr. Guy-With-The-Plan, where are we going?" she called back to Zuko.
He ignored her lame attempt at a mock nick-name, "we need to find a fire navy communication tower. All the navy's movements are coordinated by messenger hawk, and every tower has to be up to date on where everyone is deployed."
"So, once we find the communication tower, we bust in and take the information we need," Katara continued his train of thought.
"Not exactly, we need to be stealthy and make sure no one spots us, otherwise, they'll warn the Southern Raiders long before we reach them."
She nodded, "okay, so where do we start looking for a communications tower?"
He had scooted up toward the front of the saddle so that he was right behind her when he spoke, "there are lots of towers scattered in the seas around the Fire Nation, I can't remember all of their exact locations, but I'm sure if we just head west we'll find one within a few hours."
She nodded again. A few hours normally didn't feel long to Katara, especially when riding on Appa – she usually loved the wind in her hair, the smell of the sea, the feel of the clouds, and the moon almost full above her – but tonight she knew it was going to feel agonizingly long. She just wanted to take some action, to do something to make it feel like their mission had really begun.
Zuko rummaged around in their shared pack for a moment before nudging Katara's arm and handing over the small bowl of rice he had saved for her from earlier, she had forgotten about it after she changed into her stealthy clothes.
"Do you want me to take over flying Appa so you can eat? I think I have a general idea where one of the towers might be, so it might be easier if I'm guiding him anyway," he asked politely.
Katara didn't want to give over Appa's reins, being in control of the bison was making her feel in charge of the whole quest and was giving her something to focus on. But she hadn't eaten much really at all today and decided that eating was more important right now than focusing.
She turned around to face him and took the bowl from him. It was hotter than it was earlier, he must have just been warming it in his hands for her and Katara was mildly surprised by his thoughtfulness. "Thanks," she said quietly.
Zuko nodded in return and climbed over the front of Appa's saddle as Katara climbed over the other way to sit behind him. she was going to scooch all the way to the far end but as she moved a few inches away she shivered and realized that Zuko had been warming himself and by extension, the air around him. Even though it was summertime and they were now in Fire Nation territory, flying on Appa at night was quite cool. She stayed up at the front of the saddle to share some of his warmth and eat her food in silence while they flew.
- \/\ -
They reached the communication tower in a little under an hour which Katara was grateful for. She felt like she hadn't done anything truly productive in weeks. All that time at the Western Air Temple she had just been helping take care of every while they all recuperated after the invasion attempt. She was glad to help in any way she could, but cooking and supervising and healing the occasional accidental firebending burns just didn't compare to the pure thrill of sneaking around and waterbending, really waterbending.
Zuko landed Appa at the base of the tower, just behind some tall cliffs, and they both hopped down silently. Katara took some of the bundled hay off the saddle and gave it to Appa, she wanted him to be as well fed as possible for however long the rest of their journey was going to be.
There was no real plan on exactly how they would sneak in, and as far as Katara was concerned, she wasn't going to be bothered with making one. She knew the whole idea of this mission was a little reckless and she figured they may as well just dive right into it. She looked up at Zuko once they had slid off Appa and his silent stare urged her to believe he was on the same page. They both nodded, pulled their mouth coverings up, and set off toward the tower.
They worked well together. Zuko followed every move she made without question or hesitation. When she ran toward the shore and jumped, he jumped with her before she had even bent the water beneath her to ice and pushed the sea up below them to lift them up to the first level of the tower. And he took the lead in turn when he knew he'd be more useful. He knew what corners to stop and hide behind and how long to wait before running inside before the guards would notice them. They were both quiet and careful, using each other as guides and following each other through body language alone. It was exhilarating. And effective. Zuko seemed to know the general layout of the base and they were able to make their way up to the central office rather quickly.
They were sat above the main office in an air vent and a soldier, who Katara assumed to be the head of communications at this station, was sitting at the desk writing some sort of memo. They both paused for a moment while she considered the best way to create a distraction. She decided just bend some of the ink out of its tray and on to the memo that the soldier was writing. The soldier seemed confused at how the ink had moved so quickly, but not suspicious, and got up to go clean up.
Katara and Zuko hopped down from their hiding place and began to search the records of the room. There were scrolls in shelves all over place and they were organized in some weird system that Katara had never seen before, everything had long strings of numbers attached to it and she couldn't make any sense of it. Zuko didn't seem to notice her hesitation in where to start and just started pulling some scrolls from one specific cubby.
"How do you know where to look? Everything just has random number sequences all over it," she asked somewhat shocked.
He paused for a second before answering, "well… I was raised to eventually command armies, so I had to learn about the Navy's basic decimal organization system," he said it almost as if it was supposed to be obvious that he would know all about Fire Navy operations. "Anyway, it's not in these scrolls here, but it should be somewhere on this shelf."
Right. She often forgot that he was meant to be prince to the Fire Nation and that meant that he would have been groomed to learn all sorts of military and noble responsibilities. Honestly, she usually forgot that he had any sort of life before he showed up in her village all those months ago looking for Aang. She knew that he had been banished - she had seen the wanted posters for the "banished Prince Zuko" - but she had never really thought about what that had meant. She wondered what it must be like to be treated as the prince of your nation your whole life to only have it taken away from you one day. She dismissed the thoughts for now as Zuko was still looking the scrolls on the shelf and she realized she was just awkwardly standing there for a moment. Not that he had seemed to notice anyway, he was very focused on searching.
"Okay, Southern Raiders…," Zuko whispered as he pulled out a single scroll from one of the cubbies. He laid it down on the desk and unfurled it. "Bam!" he said as he pointed to a spot on the map now laid before them, "on patrol near Whaletail Island."
Katara's eyes narrowed as she felt a mixture of excitement and dread. This was it, she was really going to find him. Zuko's eyes were on her, "Whaletail Island, here we come," she stated confidently.
They were able to sneak out the same way they had come in. They barely encountered any guards on their way back. The Fire Navy must not be too concerned with security at their communications towers, I guess they don't expect a couple of teenagers to come in just to look at their information on one of the group of raiders, Katara thought to herself after they passed by an area that had had three guards earlier that night.
"I'll fly," Katara said to Zuko when they reached Appa, "I know where Whaletail Island is. You should get some sleep, it'll take us tonight and most of the day tomorrow to get there."
Zuko opened his mouth for a moment as if he was going to give some sort of retort back to her, but he closed his mouth again and just nodded to her before climbing into the saddle behind her. He probably knew where Whaletail island was too and could fly them there just as easily as she could and had wanted to tell her that, but something must have stopped him.
"Yip yip," she called to Appa and the rose up in the air. She set her eyes on the horizon and didn't look away as the night eventually turned to day around her; she kept focused and flew on for what seemed like endless hours, thinking about the eyes of the man who had killed her mother, eyes she'd see again very soon.
- \/\ -
Zuko didn't wake up until the sun was setting the next day, Katara was exhausted from being up all night and all day, her fingers clenched cold around the reins, but she didn't falter in steering Appa straight toward their destination.
"You should get some rest," Zuko said propping himself up to sit, "we'll be there in a few hours. You'll need all your strength."
"Oh, don't you worry about my strength," she said, turning her head slightly toward him, "I have plenty. I'm not the helpless little girl I was when they came."
She had been replaying the memories of that day over and over in her head all day. It was a horrible cycle of anger, guilt and regret, she felt like she was buzzing with rage. There was no better motivation to keep going. She normally didn't like to talk about what had happened, she hadn't really ever spoken about it with anyone, she never even told Aang the details of it. Not because she didn't want him to know - she was sure he would have been great at comforting her - but because it was too painful for her to even think about, let alone voice out loud. But with the memories tumbling over themselves in her mind for hours on end, she felt she just had to let it out. Maybe if they were out in the world they wouldn't be in her head anymore.
She was so young, only 8 years old when they came. Black snow fell lightly to the ground, she was in awe before she remembered the stories the tribe had told about the black snow and what it meant. She was scared. She told Sokka she was going to find their mom and she ran off toward their igloo in the center of the village. Her mom was there and for half a second Katara was relieved, but there was a Fire Nation soldier in her home with them, with her mother crouched on the floor, looking more terrified than Katara thought was possible. She had only seen her scared once, when Katara fell into a nearby frozen lake.
But when her mother spoke she was cool and collected, and for a moment Katara felt safe again – her mother was going to fix this and make it all right again, and then the man would leave. Katara shivered when the man turned to her and growled at her to listen to her mother and leave, his eyes bore into her soul and created a pit of dread in her stomach that was now all too familiar. Because she listened. She listened to her mother, and she listened to the man, both of whom told her to leave, even though all she wanted was to stay and be held. She ran, she ran as fast as she could to get to her dad.
"But we were too late, when we got there, the man was gone, and so was she," Katara finished, and she curled herself around her knees.
"Your mother was a brave woman," Zuko said with sincerity.
She touched her hand to her mother's necklace and felt tears begin to well in her eyes. He had offered her no physical comfort or any apologies to meant to console her, but his words did make her feel just the slightest bit better. "I know," Katara said with a small break in her voice.
She steeled herself for a moment before turning back to look at Zuko, "I think I will rest for a bit." He held her gaze and nodded, and that weird thing happened again where it was as if all his eyes were seeing was her, his whole focus was directed to holding eye contact with her. Before she had felt an understanding from him in that moment, but now she mostly just felt self-conscious, she knew she must look terribly exhausted, and she didn't want his pity.
He continued to hold her gaze as they traded positions on Appa, "stop staring at me," she said a little more forcefully than she meant to.
He immediately dropped his gaze and mumbled a "sorry" before turning forward to steer Appa. Katara let out a small sigh and curled up on the saddle, she relaxed almost instantly and fell asleep.
- \/\ -
It must have only been a few hours before Zuko's voice jolted her awake again.
"There!" he called to her as he lowered the telescope from his good eye, "see those sea-raven flags?" he tossed the telescope over his shoulder to her, and she saw it too, "it's the Southern Raiders."
Finally. "Let's do this."
Zuko guided Appa down toward the water and Katara joined him up on Appa's head. She stood so that she could waterbend an air bubble around them all so they could breathe while Appa swam stealthily toward the Southern Raiders' ship. When they got near the hull she closed her eyes, felt the force of the sea around her and used it to bend up a huge wave to crash over the ship. Zuko flew Appa up out of the water and landed him on deck. Katara slid down easily and ran towards the remaining guard, her eyes burning from both the sting of the seawater and her own internal rage. She punched a jet of water at the last guard and launched off the ship and into the ocean with the others. She pulled some more water from below the ship and sleeved it around her arms as they ran into the main cabin.
Her heart rate was rising as they ran down the hallway together, this was it, she was finally going to face him. She could feel the moon full above them, even though she couldn't see it anymore; it made her blood pulse faster through her veins. She was finally going to end this.
Zuko disarmed a guard as he jumped out from behind a door and Katara paused briefly as he locked the guard inside, before they both started running full speed toward the end of the hall again. "This is it, Katara," Zuko said once they reached the door, "are you ready to face him?"
She pulled down her mask and let out a growl as she threw the sleeves of water at the door with full force. The door slammed open and Zuko immediately jumped in front of her to block the captains firebending blasts. His instincts and their teamwork were paying off again.
After dodging a fireball that Zuko had shot at his feet, the captain backed down for a moment and addressed them, "who are you?" His voice was weaselly and distinct.
"You don't remember her" Zuko motioned toward Katara with his head, "you will soon, trust me!" He shot another fireblast at him and he moved to retaliate but Katara caught him too quickly. She had felt the captain's blood pulsing quickly when they entered the room and she caused it to twist and turn in his arm before he could bend any more fire.
His eyes went wide in terror as she bloodbent him toward the floor, "What's, ah... happening... to me...!?" he rasped through strained breaths before collapsing fully on to the wood beneath him, twitching slightly. She felt Zuko abandon his bending stance next to her and saw the stunned expression on his face as he turned toward her. A twinge of pride surged through her that she had surprised him with her power. And she felt powerful, it felt good to finally have this man who had ruined her life now completely at her mercy before him. She almost reveled in it.
Zuko quickly regained his composure and turned back to the ship captain, "think back! Think back to your last raid on the Southern Water Tribe!" he practically spat the words at him.
"I don't know what you're talking about! Please I don't know!" he stuttered from his awkward position.
Zuko dropped to the floor and leaned next to the captain's face, "Don't lie! You look her in the eye and tell me you don't remember what you did!" he pointed aggressively at Katara. It was taking all her effort to keep the captain pinned to the ground and she was grateful that Zuko was doing all the talking, he was much more aggressive with his voice than she thought she could be right now.
She scooped her hands in an upward motion, pulling on his veins to make him sit up and face her. His face was one of pure shock and horror. And his eyes stared up at hers with nothing else in them, they were flat and pleading, and then the horror was Katara's instead.
"It's not him," she spoke it as soon as she realized it. The pit of dread in her chest was heavier than ever and she felt herself begin to shake. The man collapsed forward as she clapped her hands together and loosened her stance to release her hold on him. "He's not the man…"
"What?, What do you mean he's not?" Zuko asked incredulously, "he's the leader of the Southern Raiders, he has to be the guy!"
Disappointment was cool in her veins. She didn't have a response left in her anymore. Her hands were beginning to shake uncontrollably so she clenched them tightly and walked out the door. She only made it just beyond the door frame before she collapsed against the wall and held her knees close to her chest. She forced herself to take deep breaths, It's not that bad. Just because he isn't the man doesn't mean he's innocent. He must still have countless crimes, he deserves what I did to him… She wasn't sure she believed that though. After Hama, she had sworn to herself that she would never bloodbend again, and not a minute ago she was rejoicing in the power it gave her. She should feel disgusted with herself, but instead she just felt disappointment and more lingering anger.
Zuko was still interrogating the ship captain in the room behind her but she forced herself not to listen. She didn't want to hear about this anymore. She just wanted to feel nothing again.
"Katara!" Zuko called as he walked through the doorway before realizing she was on the floor just next to him. There was a brief flash of concern across his face before he spoke, "come on, I know exactly where he is now, let's go." He held his hand out to her to help her up but she ignored it and pushed off the floor herself.
They walked silently back to Appa and Katara let Zuko take the reins without any discussion this time. She sat at the back of the saddle and did her best to ignore the chill of the wind around her.
"So, did you like… bend that guys blood?" Zuko asked after a few minutes of flying.
"Yes," she snapped back. Now Zuko, Prince of bad decisions and questionable morals, is going to berate her on how she handled the situation? She wasn't going to deal with him right now.
Zuko stiffened at her harsh tone and paused to take a deep breath. He turned around fully to face her, his expression no longer hiding his concern, "are you…okay?" he asked cautiously.
"It's not your job to make sure I'm okay Zuko! I'm fine and I don't need your pity, or some kind of lecture about 'doing the right thing' okay!?" she yelled back at him.
"Agh!" he threw his hands up in the air exasperated and turned back around. He exhaled sharply through his nose and spoke again quietly, "I wasn't going to lecture you, and I don't pity you in the slightest, Katara."
They rode the rest of the way in silence and she eventually felt into a restless sleep.
- \/\ -
They reached their new destination around noon the next day, Zuko had explained that they were going to a village on a small island in the southwest of the Fire Nation, and that the man she was looking for, Yon Rha, would be living there with his mother. Katara had mostly just grunted and nodded at Zuko while he told her and suggested ideas of how to get Yon Rha on his own to confront him. She felt somewhat guilty for snapping at Zuko yesterday, she didn't want to admit it, but all his actions did suggest that he was only trying to help her. She considered apologizing to him but she just didn't have it in her. It was taking all her energy to focus on what she was going to say when she finally confronted Yon Rha.
There was a small marketplace in the middle of the village and that's where they waited for him to show up. Katara and Zuko crouched behind a window in an old abandoned shop in the middle of the market. It was only about fifteen minutes before a tall man with shoulder length gray hair went to the fruit stand across from their hiding spot. Katara felt her body freeze in place as soon as she saw him. He looked a little older and a little slower, but his stature and the way he moved, she was already sure that this was him.
They bided their time and watched until he finished buying his goods before they followed him down the path he was taking. Stepping out from their hiding spot in the abandoned shop, Katara could smell the rain before it came. She took a deep breath and sighed, the inevitability of the rain and the events to come were calming her. She knew it would finally be over, and she knew she would be in control. This time they were in the daylight, and there was no full moon, and she was almost grateful not to have the opportunity to bloodbend. Just her, that man, and the rain.
Katara and Zuko followed Yon Rha a fair bit down the path before running up ahead of him and hiding - this time behind a rock just off the pathway. The rain finally started to pour down, it was thick and heavy and Katara felt the power of it rise inside her. Zuko ducked out from behind the rock for a moment to check Yon Rha's distance from them, and turned back to Katara quickly, "stay here a second." She nodded back at him, slightly confused, but trusting his instincts. He ran out, still crouching, to the other side of the path, tore a thread from the hem of his pants and tied it to a smaller rock before running back toward their hiding rock and tying the other end of the thread. He was planning to trip him, it would be the perfect way to catch him off guard, as they were pretty sure he had been close to spotting them a few times earlier.
Once Yon Rha was close enough Zuko threw a pebble at a nearby bush causing Yon Rha to turn around quickly and punch a blast of fire that direction, "nobody sneaks up on me without getting burned!" he growled.
His voice was piercing, it cut right through Katara and for a split second she was 8 years old and paralyzed. She quickly shook it off and watched as he picked up his fruit, stepped forward, caught his foot on the thread Zuko had set up, and fell flat on his face.
Zuko jumped out of their hiding place and shot a blast of fire near Yon Rha's hands, "we weren't behind the bush," Zuko said keeping his bending posture and stepping forward, "and I wouldn't try firebending again!"
"Whoever you are, take my money, take whatever you want, I'll cooperate," he looked so small and weak, scrambling in the wet ground that Katara almost wanted to laugh.
She stepped forward and pulled the cowl down from her mouth, "do you know who I am?" she asked fiercely.
"No…I'm not sure," Yon Rha said with some hesitation.
"Oh, you better remember me like your life depends on it!" Her anger was rising now, "why don't you take a closer look!"
He paused for a moment and his eyes opened even wider, "yes… yes, I remember you now. You're the little Water Tribe girl…" Katara paused for a moment while Yon Rha briefly told her how her mother had said that she was the last waterbender, and then he killed her because of it.
Katara's heart was pounding in her chest, her blood pumping so loud she could barely hear the rain drumming around her, "she lied to you! She was protecting the last waterbender!"
"What? Who?" he asked incredulously.
Katara inhaled, felt the rain as it fell from the sky, circled her arms around in front of her and threw them straight out to her sides, stopping each droplet of water so that they hovered around their faces, "ME!"
The rain that continued to fall above them stopped to form a dome around the three of them, Zuko pulled down his face mask and looked up in awe. It was as if she was controlling the storm, even if just in a thirty-foot radius.
Katara circled her arms again and froze the droplets of water into hundreds of daggers of ice, pulled her arms over her head and shot them all toward Yon Rha's face. She saw his expression turn from shock to mild fear as he threw his arms up to cover his face, and she stopped the daggers mere inches from his skin. This man, this monster in front of her, he fought for nothing, he may have fought for the Fire Nation, but he didn't believe in it, he was barely even fighting for his own life – he had given up in front of them the moment he tripped and fell over. No remorse, no fear, no longing to live or die, he was pathetic. She dropped her bending stance and let the water wash limply over him.
Yon Rha crawled onto his hands and knees in front of her and begged, "I did a bad thing, I know I did, and you deserve revenge, so why don't you take my mother? That would be fair!" there was almost a smile on his face.
She looked down before speaking, her anger still raging, "I always wondered what kind of person could do such a thing, but now that I see you, I think I understand. There's just nothing inside you, nothing at all. You're pathetic and sad and empty!"
"P-please, sp-pare me" he mumbled feebly.
"But as much as I hate you," she paused, "I just can't do it." She quickly blinked away tears. She took one last look at Yon Rha's almost smug, smiling face and walked away.
After a moment she felt Zuko turn to follow her as well. The rain was still falling hard around her but she didn't bother bending it away, it felt right, to have the rain bombard her while her emotions racked through her body. The further and further she got away from Yon Rha the more out of control she felt. At first only her hands were shaking but by the time she reached the clearing where they left Appa her whole upper body was trembling and she had to concentrate hard on her breathing. Crossing the clearing she started frantically bending the water off her forehead and away from her face, flinging it behind her – the sting of it in her eyes had begun to irritate her to no end.
Zuko was grunting behind her and spoke up after a moment, "Uh, Katara, you keep bending that right in to my face, and they're kind of shar- "
"Aagh! I'm sorry!? Is my waterbending inconvenient for you!?" she yelled at him, dripping with sarcasm, "that doesn't really seem like my problem, considering it's your fault that I'm here anyway!" She stepped right up to him and shoved his chest with the tip of her fingers, he stumbled back slightly and looked down at her shocked and frightened. "Oh, 'Katara I know who killed your mother,' 'Katara you need revenge,' 'Katara forgive me,' 'Katara come with me and kill this man, that'll be fun and constructive! and then when you can't do it, you'll feel like shit!'" She had closed the space between them again and was hitting him in the chest with her forearms as she spoke, punching as hard as she could.
"Ow, ow, stop it!" he yelled back at her, his hands palm forward near his head in surrender.
But she didn't let up, "How could you think this was a good idea!?" her breaths were coming in short bursts, "how – gasp – could – gasp – I – gasp – let – gasp – you – gasp – convince – gasp – me – gasp – this – gasp – was – gasp – the – gasp – right – gasp – thing –" her arms were now folded feebly between their bodies and her words became less and less coherent, each one sounding more and more like a panicked squeal as she sobbed into his chest.
"Katara… you need to breathe," worry and confusion coated his voice, "try and take deep breaths in and out." She continued hyperventilating, and Zuko tentatively placed his palms flat on her upper back. "Just try and match your breathing to mine," he said as he took a deep breath in. On the exhale he slowly moved his hands down her back, hoping his movements wouldn't cause her to start pummeling him again. When he inhaled again he moved his hands back up toward her shoulder blades in the hopes that if she couldn't match his breathing then maybe she could match the rhythm he was making on her back.
His hands were warm, making her realize just how cold she was. She felt like a tidal wave, her emotions crashing everywhere at once, unable to decide how to feel and therefore trying to feel everything at once. She only vaguely heard Zuko's consoling voice trying to calm her down, but the rhythm of his chest rising and falling against her arms and cheek allowed her heart to slow down a bit and she found that she was slowly beginning to breathe normally again.
With each inhale and exhale, getting steadier as she went, her array of emotions fell away from her until she felt nothing at all. Suddenly she realized she wasn't crying or gasping anymore and her body felt tired and bruised. She was entirely still, but Zuko's hands were still running smoothly up and down her back coaxing her to breathe. She had forgotten he was even there, he was only a thing to lean her body against. Looking up to meet his gaze she saw that same intensely-focused look in his face, he was searching her eyes for that easy understanding he had found there previously, but she knew she wasn't returning it, she felt lifeless. She didn't know how, she didn't know how to feel anything other than physical sensation – her face swollen from tears, her body clammy and frail from the rain, and Zuko's too warm hands still pressed on her back. She shifted slightly to get out of their awkward embrace, his hands dropped immediately. He opened his mouth as if to ask her something, but closed it again after thinking better of it.
She turned around and made her way over to climb on to Appa. She wanted to get away from this place and think about anything other than the day Yon Rha took her mother's life, or this day, where she almost became like him. She climbed in to Appa's saddle mechanically and laid down in the back, curling in to herself. Zuko followed her up cautiously and sat up on Appa's head. The rain was still falling fiercely and water kept getting in his eyes. He turned back and saw Katara laying on her side, eyes open, just staring blankly ahead. He paused for a moment then grabbed a blanket out of their pack and crawled over to drape it across her.
"I, uh, I don't think the storm is going to let up any time soon, so, uh, we should probably just look around one of the nearby islands for some shelter and then fly back to meet up with everyone else tomorrow…" Zuko said, searching her eyes for any kind of recognition. After a moment she nodded blankly at him. He nodded back and whispered an "okay" before heading back to Appa's head and flying them up in to the air.
Katara felt like a heavy hollow shell. The rain was torturous on her body flying so fast through the storm, but she couldn't will herself to do anything about it. She just stared ahead not really focusing on anything, just watching the storm clouds and horizon slowly shift and change beyond the silhouette of Zuko steering Appa. He had been quiet all day, and he hadn't done anything to stop her barrage of fists and yelling while she was freaking out. Maybe she had been misunderstanding his intentions since he joined the group, maybe he really did want to play his part in ending the war, and maybe earning her forgiveness was also about rebuilding who he wanted to be. Well, maybe not all that…but it's possible.
-/\/\/\/\/\/\-
A/N: Wow 11,721 words. Thank you so much for reading if you did! This is my first time writing fic and I'm happy with how it's turning out so far, but thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated! This first chapter turned out to be waaay longer than I was expecting and hopefully the coming ones won't be quite so long.
This first chapter is pretty heavy too and I plan to have some more light fluffy stuff too, Katara isn't always going to be so angry all the time. And Zuko won't be so level-headed either.
As an fyi I do want to try and keep this as canon compliant as possible for the entirety of the OG show, sooo there is going to be some Kataang in this fic as I do think Katara would have some complicated feelings about Aang that she would be conflicted about. It's ultimately a Zutara fic but Katara is the main focus so there has to be a little of Aang in there too. Hopefully it'll still be a fun read for you though, I'm already having so much fun writing it.
Thanks again for reading and I'll hopefully have the next (possibly) shorter chapter up soon!
(edited 11/25/18 for formatting stuff)