1. Fool Me Once

Katara could never sleep in at the Western Air Temple, as the unfiltered sun got her out of bed as soon as it's first rising rays kissed the temple's walls, though it didn't matter where in the world they were Katara always woke up early. She'd been getting up before the sun and taking care of the villagers back in the Southern Water Tribe for as long as she could remember so it seemed natural to her that she would be the one to take care of her friends in that same capacity. Everyone had their roles to play. Her role was the motherly friend, ans sometimes Katara felt like she was too young to be playing such an old role; especially since she hadn't grown up with a mother her 'd been getting up before the sun and taking care of the villagers back in the Southern Water Tribe for as long as she could remember so it seemed natural to her that she would be the one to take care of her friends in that same capacity. Everyone had their roles to play. Her role was the motherly friend. Sometimes Katara felt like she was too young to be playing such an old role; especially since she hadn't grown up with a mother her self.

It wasn't always easy being the person everyone depended on. Sometimes she'd like to be the one who got to leave things till tomorrow, stay up all night, or not worry about "that" right now. She'd like to not worry about finding Aang a firebending teacher and trust that Aang would find one himself, but she knew that she was going to have to be the one to do it, or nag Aang until he did.

She started off her morning just like she started off every other morning since she'd been here. She bathed and got dressed in front of her ice bent mirror. Being a waterbender had it's advantages when it came to personal hygiene. She was still the only person awake but she knew that the others would wake up soon and be hungry. Everyone took turns cooking, but it was usually Katara who cooked breakfast. She didn't mind she liked getting up when the moon was still out. Sometimes Katara talked to Yue and asked her to look out for their group especially her brother. Spirits knew he could use all the looking after he could get.

Taking a pair of spark rocks from a rock shelf that Toph had built she started a fire in the makeshift fire pit. Next she bent water into a cooking pot and set it over the fire pit to boil. The day was already warming up and the sky was as blue as an ocean. It was beautiful up among the sky and clouds but she missed being close to the water.

It didn't matter if it was a beach, or a swamp, or surrounded by ice floes. If it was water she felt at home near it. Sometimes she missed her home so much it ached, but that ache was a puddle in comparison to the ocean of ache she had for her mother. Her father was back with her now, but they had lost so many moments together while he was away at war. There had been so many nights where she had cried herself to sleep because her father had been so far away from her and it seemed like he was never coming back. Since being reunited they had been trying to make up for lost time. Every moment of the day that she could spend together with Sokka and her father she did and still it never felt like enough. She felt like an orphan for so long that sometimes she still felt that way. If she didn't have Sokka by her side during everything that had been going on this past year she would not have made it as far as she had. Even though he drove her crazy at times she couldn't have asked for a better big brother.

The smell of the cooking porridge woke the others up. As their little group filed into the main room of the Western Air Temple Katara bent the porridge into bowls and passed them out.

"Chit Sang and I are going fishing for tonight's dinner." Her father informed her. "What are your plans for today?"

"We're still working on finding Aang a fire bending teacher." Katara explained.

"Don't look at me." Chit Sang said. "That kid needs someone who will coddle him, and I'm more likely to throttle him."

Her father gave Chit Sang a look before responding to Katara. "I know you'll think of something. Aang's lucky to have a friend like you. I couldn't be prouder of you for helping the Avatar to end this war."

"We haven't ended it yet."

"We will. I know we will."

"Aw, porridge again." Sokka moaned. "I'm sick of eating porridge." He walked into the sunlit room with his hair rumpled and digging the sleep out of his eyes. As usual he was the last one up. He was always the last to get up in the morning.

"Be lucky we have food at all. You know how hard supplies are to get." Katara told him.

"Don't worry son Chit Sang and I are going fishing we're bound to catch something and you'll have meat for dinner."

Sokka perked up upon hearing he would have meat for dinner.

"We'd better be on our way." Their father said and bent down to give his children hugs.

As her father and Chit Sang left for their fishing trip Aang flew into the Temple on his glider. He must have woken up early and went off for a morning flight. He was always in a good mood after a morning flight, so Katara decided to take this opportunity to talk to him about finding a firebending teacher.

"I know you still don't have a firebending teacher, but I thought you could at least study Chit Sang that would at least be something." She suggested to him after he finished his breakfast.

"I don't think Chit Sang would appreciate having an audience." Aang countered.

"Maybe not, but you can't keep putting off learning firebending forever. Sooner or later you're going to have to find a teacher."

"Let's make it sooner rather than later." Toph said.

"In the meantime why don't we go shopping. We might hear something about a teacher at one of the local markets, plus I wanna get some seaweed noodles so I can make stewed seaweed fish soup." Sokka said.

Katara's mouth watered. Her brother did make the best fish soup. She'd might as well go on a supply run. Aang's mind was made up for now and all the nagging in the world wasn't going to change that.

"All right. Let's go." She said.

They took off on Appa flying above the patchwork of ground below. Sokka sat back against the saddle and was studying the new map he brought. Toph clung on to the saddle like always. She was never comfortable when her feet were off of the ground without anything to see. Aang held the reins and sat perched upon Appa's shoulders like a bird. Any minute, she knew, he could hop off Appa and go soaring across the sky like a messenger hawk. Sometimes she envied the amount of freedom that came with being an airbender. Momo flew around them freely; dipping in and out of the clouds looking for bugs to catch and eat. Katara worried about finding someone to teach Aang firebending.

"We'll shop for an hour and then meet back here in the market square." Sokka instructed.

In the market Katara found plenty of things to distract herself with. Pretty sparkling jewelry, silk robes, and fancy comb and brush sets. She tried on hair charms and gold bangles. Being among stall after stall of beautiful things always lifted her spirits. Even if she couldn't afford to buy everything she saw she just liked knowing that, despite the war, people were still able to craft such lovely works of art. She brought herself a mirrored brush and comb set, some perfumed oil, and a book called Love Amongst The Dragons that looked really intriguing.

There were no markets like this back in the south pole, maybe that's why Sokka loved shopping so much. The rest of her money she spent on food and supplies. She took time choosing her food. Smelling it, touching it, and weighing it in her hand. She had become a shrewd customer in her travels to markets all over the world. Haggling with the merchants didn't fill her with fear and dread like it used to. Given enough time and she felt like she could become a haggling master.

"Did you find everything you needed." Katara asked her brother when they met back in the market square.

"Everything but a firebending teacher." He replied.

"Oh well, Aang said, looks like we're not going to find anyone to teach me firebending today.

"Doesn't look like we're ever going to find anyone." Katara muttered as Appa flew everyone back to the Western Air Temple.

Her father and Chit Sang got back from their fishing trip only a few minutes before their group got home from shopping. Sokka left them to unpack the supplies while he went over to help gut and clean the fish.

"Momo put that fish down!" Sokka cried. "Bad lemur!"

Momo was running across the temple floor with a fish in his mouth in hopes of avoiding capture by her brother who was chasing him and waving his boomerang.

"Yeah, that'll make him come right to you." Aang remarked.

"Let him have it." Suki said. "I certainly don't want it after Momo's drooled all over it."

Katara laughed. She liked when their group had more people in it. The more people the more it felt like a community. She hadn't a feeling of community this deep since she'd left the Southern Water Tribe. It seemed like so long ago since she and her brother had found Aang trapped in that iceberg. Back when she'd been too afraid to leave her village. Now here she was half way around the world waking up next to the Avatar. She wondered what her mother would think if she could see what their lives had become. She hoped she would be as proud of her and her brother as her father was. She was doing everything that she could to make sure that their mother hadn't sacrificed her life in vain.

Once she had confessed this thought to Sokka and he told her that their mother's sacrifice would never be in vain because she died to save her life. Sokka could say that because he wasn't the cause of her mother's death. The Fire Nation had been looking for him. He wasn't a waterbender, but she was. If she hadn't of been born a waterbender her mother would have never had to lie to keep her safe and she'd still be alive. Sokka didn't understand that part of the reason why she worked so hard to be the best waterbender she could be was for their mother. If she didn't try the best waterbender that she could she would be dishonoring her mother's legacy.

Her mother's legacy in their village had been an unforgettable one. She was beloved among all who knew her. Her mother was the kind of person who took food to sick neighbors and helped out when babies were born. Her mother remembered everyone's birthday in the village and always baked their favorite dish for them. Whenever anyone in their village needed something her mother was there to give it to them. It was often said that her mother was the most beautiful woman in their village, and Katara had to agree, but her mother wasn't just was beautiful, she was smart, funny, and generous. She was everything.

"Soup's done!" Sokka cried out.

Katara grabbed a bowl and head over with the others where her brother was laddleing out his delicious stewed seaweed fish soup. The smell of it brought back happy memories of the times when their mother was still alive. She had been the one to show Sokka how to make the fish soup. It'd been the only thing to do with actually cooking and preparing food that he had seem interested in. That was back when their family had been whole before the raid on their village by the Fire Nation. She guessed that's why Sokka still made the soup to this day. It was one of the little things he had left to remind him of their mother. Thanks to the Fire Nation and increasingly to Prince Zuko she had and her family never known a moment of peace. No matter how he had tried to convenience her otherwise Zuko didn't care about peace all he cared about was war and destruction. It was the only thing he and his murderous family was good for.

Using her bending she cool down her soup and then sat down next to her father.

He smiled at her. "It's been awhile since I've had your brother's fish soup."

Her father's smile was not the same one he used to have before their mother died. It wasn't a bright or as genuine. Nor did it light up his eyes in the same way. He'd been so broke after their mother's death. She still remembered how he would walk around like a ghost and when he thought that she wasn't looking he would cry into one of her mother's coats and call out her name. He had tried so hard to keep their family whole and together, but the war had seen and end to that.

"Are you OK, Katara?" He father asked. "You've hardly touched your soup."

"I'm fine." She said and raised the bowl of soup to her lips and quickly drank it so that her father wouldn't worry about her.

"Good." He said and stroked her hair. "I don't like seeing or your brother upset." He got up to his feet. "Why don't you and your brother go and have some fun. I'll take care of the dishes."

"Thanks dad."

Her father kissed her on the forehead. "No problem."

Besides going swimming, riding around on Appa was Katara's favorite way to stay cool on hot summer days, and Appa loved getting the exercise. All morning she, Aang, Toph, and her brother put their heads together trying to figure out what to do about Aang learning how to firebend, but by the afternoon they were no closer to finding an answer to the question then they had been that morning. Now they were taking a break. Flying around on Appa and drinking a cool glass of watermelon juice was just the kind of break Katara needed.

Today she wasn't anyone's mother. Today she was just Katara a fourteen year old Water Tribe girl hanging out with her friends. She waved to Aang who was using his new staff to wind surf with. Her brother was throwing his boomerang out to watch it fly across the sky only to catch it again. Even Toph was having fun. She had brought a bunch of rocks with her and was trying to bend them in the direction she thought Sokka's boomerang was going in.

Katara stood up and bent the clouds she passed by into different shapes. There was no better feeling than painting with clouds and having the whole sky as your canvas. She cloud painted Water Tribe ships, fluffy bunnies, and flowers.

"Can we go back now?" Toph asked after awhile. "I'm starting to get wind burned and I finished by watermelon juice an hour ago."

"Yeah, me too." Sokka said. "I have to do some waterbending of my own, watermelon juice goes right through me."

"Don't be gross, Sokka." Katara scolded.

Her brother just shrugged and brought Appa in for a landing and jumped off his back and raced for the bathroom.

"Aang, can we talk about you learning firebending now?" Sokka asked as he came back from the bathroom. "I think we should be making some plans about our future."

Katara was glad her brother had been the one to bring up the subject of firebending and not her.

"Okay, we can do that while I show you the giant Pai Sho table! Oh, you're gonna love the all-day echo chamber!" Aang said. "You haven't had a chance to see them since we got here."

"I think that'll have to wait." Toph said and turned to point to someone behind her.

"Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there, so, I just thought I'd wait for you here. I know you must be surprised to see me here." Zuko said. He was standing next to Appa looking awkward and out of place instead of ready for the kill. Appa roared and then licked Zuko twice.

After everything that she'd been through and after everything that she'd seen Katara didn't think that she could be shocked, but she was. To see Zuko standing there talking to them so calmly as if they were friends shocked her. It didn't take long however before that shock turned into anger. How did he even have the audacity?

"Not really, since you've followed us all over the world." Sokka sneered.

"Right. Well, uhhh, anyway... what I wanted to tell you about is that I've changed, and I, uhhh, I'm good now, and well I think I should join your group, oh, and I can teach firebending to you. See, I, uhhh-"

"You want to what now?" Toph asked in complete disbelief.

Good, Zuko, please he didn't know the definition of good. People who were good didn't have to go around qualifying their goodness. They just were.

"You can't possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you? I mean, how stupid do you think we are?!" Katara shouted. She'd been foolish enough to trust him once and it turned out it was just an act to try and capture Aang. She would not let him fool her again. Just give me a reason she thought. Just give me a reason to blast you right of the edge of this temple and I will.

"Yeah, all you've ever done is hunt us down and try to capture Aang!" Sokka reminded him.

"I've done some good things! I mean, I could have stolen your bison in Ba Sing Se, but I set him free. That's something." Zuko replied. Appa seemed to agree with Zuko because he chose that moment to give him a giant lick.

"Appa does seem to like him." Toph pointed out.

"He probably just covered himself in honey or something so that Appa would lick him. I'm not buying it." Sokka replied.

Katara didn't buy it either. Zuko was up to something, but this time she was ready for him. Whatever nasty little trick he had up his sleeve she was ready for. He was incapable of being good just like every other member of his family.

The fact that he'd tracked them down once again and then crawled up to the temple like a rat-viper lying in wait proved to Katara beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wasn't a good person and never would be. Every minute he stayed in her presence the angrier she got. All she could think about was how he had poured his heart out to her in Ba Sing Se and then turned around and attacked her and Aang. He was probably lying when he said he lost his mother. Only a complete and total psycho path would do something like that, and that's exactly what Zuko was. A complete and total psycho path devoid of human emotions.

"I can understand why you wouldn't trust me, and I know I've made some mistakes in the past." Zuko said calmly.

"Like when you attacked our village?" Sokka said.

"Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?" Katara added. Even after she had told him that was her mother's necklace he hadn't cared. If he lost his own mother so much then why would he do something like that? She should have seen right though him.

"Look, I admit I've done some awful things. I was wrong to try to capture you, and I'm sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should have sent that Fire Nation assassin after you. I'm going to try and stop-"

"Wait, you sent Combustion Man after us?" Sokka snarled and pulled his boomerang out.

Katara shook her head inwardly. She wasn't at all surprised that Zuko had sent Combustion Man after them, Toph thought that it was a random attack, but Katara knew that he'd been sent by someone. She was getting sick of hearing Zuko's excuses if he didn't leave soon she was going to make him leave.

"Well, that's not his name, but-" Zuko said struggling to explain himself.

"Ohhh, sorry. I didn't mean to insult your friend!" Sokka said his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"He's not my friend!" Zuko shouted.

That didn't surprise Katara. Zuko probably didn't have any friends. She rolled her eyes. Even when he was trying to convince them that he was a nice guy he couldn't be nice.

"That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up!" Toph yelled.

Figuring that he wasn't going to have a break though with the Avatar's friends Zuko turned to the Avatar himself. "Why aren't you saying anything? You once said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me."

"There's no way we can trust you after everything you've done. We'll never let you join us."

"You need to get out of here. Now!" Katara shouted. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't just leave. He was probably trying to stall them or he was just waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Good luck with that. She thought. After what his sister did to Aang she was going to make sure that no member of the royal family ever harmed him again.

"I'm trying to explain that I'm not that person anymore!"

Katara narrowed her eyes. Zuko was only one person. His father's son.

"Either you leave, or we attack." Sokka warned.

"If you won't accept me as a friend, then maybe you'll take me as a prisoner." Zuko said. He dropped to his knees and raised his hands up to be bound.

"No, we won't!" Katara snarled and bent out a powerful stream of water at Zuko. "Get out of here, and don't come back! And if we ever see you again, well, we'd better not see you again!" He was lucky she hadn't bent him off of the temple completely, but if he was stupid enough to come back then she wouldn't hesitate.

Without another word Zuko turned and walked away in defeat.

"Why would he try to fool us like that?" Katara wanted to know once Zuko was out of earshot.

"Obviously he wants to lead us into some kind of trap." Her brother explained.

"This is just like when we were in prison together at Ba Sing Se. He starts talking about his mother and making it seem like he's an actual human being with feelings."

"He wants you to trust and feel sorry for him so you let your guard down, then he strikes." Sokka assured her.

"The thing is, it worked. I did feel sorry for him. I felt like he was really confused and hurt, but obviously, when the time came, he made his choice, and we paid the price."

Fool me once shame on you Katara thought. Fool me twice, well he wasn't going to get the chance to fool her twice. She didn't trust Zuko further then she could throw Appa and she never would. She hated that he was able to sneak his way into their living space. Now the temple felt wrong and violated. It made her skin crawl. She was constantly whipping her head around looking for Zuko or his sister. She couldn't shake the feeling that any second he was going attack them all.

"We can't trust him." Katara said. "We should keep watch tonight he might come back."

"Calm down sweetness." Toph said. "Zuko wouldn't be stupid enough to try and come back again. Not with this many people protecting the temple."

"Oh he's plenty stupid all right." Katara said. "I mean how many times did he attack us when he was at a total disadvantage? If there's one true thing I know about Zuko it's that he doesn't give up."

"I'm with my sister." Sokka said. "Thinking logically, or think at all for that matter, isn't exactly Zuko's thing, so even if he was sincere it's probably best that you don't learn firebending from an idiot, but now this puts us back at square one."

"I'm not worried about Zuko." Aang said. "I'll know we'll find someone to teach me."

"O.K., but how? Time is marching on." Katara said. "If worse comes to worse we'll just have to convince Chit Sang to teach you."

"Not that again." Aang said. "You worry too much, Katara."

Someone has to she wanted to yell at Aang's retreating back. Why wasn't he more worried about learning firebending? She felt like pulling her hair out since she couldn't pull out Aang's.

"Sleep on it and something might come to us in the morning." Sokka said.

"Yeah, hopefully a firebending teach." Top replied.

Katara doubted she'd be doing too much sleeping. She was still too worked up. Seeing Zuko's face had brought back all kinds of conflicting emotions within her. Back in Ba Sing Se she had felt so close to Zuko. She had been so sure that he was genuine. He had her so convinced that he'd changed that she'd foolishly offered to heal his scar. What she thought had been a bonding moment between the two of them had been one big lie, one big lie that could have gotten Aang killed. If she'd used the water from the Spirit oasis on Zuko's lying face there was no telling what might have happened to Aang.

Now he'd come back to lie once more about wanting to be Aang's firebending teacher. As if he really good and wanted to teach Aang. Just the thought of Zuko trying to teach Aang anything was laughable. The only thing that Zuko had taught her and her friends was to never forgive him or the Fire Nation.