"She lied to you. She was protecting the last Waterbender," I said, not looking at the murderer. A wave of guilt washed over me as I absorbed the hidden story of my mother's death.
"What? Who?" Yon-Rah's voice was bewildered, disbelieving.
I glared at him, almost cringing with disgust. "ME!" I concentrated on the water around me. The still water on the ground and the rain still coming down. I brought my arms up next to me, my back straight, in a stance that would look almost like a Firebender. The water stopped and a large dome formed overhead. My movements were fluid and lethal as I twisted my arms, gathering the water before I threw dozens of icicles at the man with a yell. Just as they were about to impale Yon-Rah, they stopped. I was frozen with my arms parallel to the ground, one on either side of me. I will not be a monster. I let the water go.
"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 in his voice.
"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." My voice was cold, but I didn't care.
"Please, spare me," he begged. It was strange seeing a grown man on his knees, begging for his life before me.
"As much as I hate you," my voice starts to shake, "I just can't do it." I turned and walked away.
I reached Appa with Zuko close behind. I climbed into the saddle and hugged my knees to my chest. Zuko got onto Appa's head wordlessly and took the reins. I heard a quiet "Yip, yip". Zuko turned us around and whispered to Appa before coming back in the saddle. His face was stoic and emotionless but his eyes showed admiration and something else I couldn't name.
"I think we should stop and let Appa rest for the night. I thought you might want to take a little time before you face anyone again." His voice was just loud enough for me to hear over the wind and the rain. I only nodded my approval before he went back to sit on Appa's head, giving me my space.
Not too long after Zuko suggested we stop for the night we left the rain behind us. It was easier for the banished prince to navigate to a dry place to stop. There was another island not too far from Whale Tail Island. It didn't seem to be inhabited. As we neared it I felt Appa begin to descend into a meadow surrounded by tall trees, tall enough to hide us from passing ships.
I jumped out of the saddle wordlessly. My landing was more or less graceful in my distracted, numb state. It didn't occur to me that I would need my pack later. Thankfully Zuko was kind enough to bring mine down when he got off Appa with his. I absently went to gather firewood from the surrounding area. When I got back Zuko had found stones and arranged them in a circle as well as cleared the grass surrounding the ring so the whole field wasn't set ablaze. The only thing that would be left to show our presence would be the cleared spaces.
"Are you okay with jerky and berries? I can go hunting if you want something else," Zuko offered as I set up the wood.
"Jerky's fine. We need to get some rest anyways," I replied.
"Okay." His voice was quiet as he started the fire. I went over to my pack and pulled out the bag of jerky and pouch of berries. Aang had several bags and when I was packing I'd figured he wouldn't miss one too much. I could always restock it later.
Zuko and I ate in silence at opposite sides of the fire. His back was to the woods while I had my back to Appa. I keep my head down and concentrated on my food. I did notice, however, that Zuko would peek glances at me and when he thought I didn't notice his burning gaze would linger on me.
"What is your problem?" I yelled, jumping up so I towered over him. He was looking at me like I was crazy, but didn't say anything. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"
"Like what?" he asked, still sitting, perfectly calm.
"Like I'm going to go insane or crack at any second." My voice was exasperated.
"Katara," Zuko started as he stood up. "You just faced the man who killed your mother and you almost killed him." He started walking around the fire to stand in front of me. "It's okay for you to be upset. You've had a trying few days." I could feel my eyes filling with tears that longed to fall. I tried blinking the traitorous tears away to no avail. Zuko was getting closer and closer, slowly but surely, as if he was afraid of scaring me or scared himself of what might happen.
"I should have killed him. After all the terrible things he's done, he deserved it!" My voice cracked. Out of anger or sorrow I couldn't tell.
"And after all the terrible things that I've done, do I deserve to die Katara? That's not the person you are. That's not the person you're meant to be." His face was soft. I'd never seen it so gentle before.
"Just who am I supposed to be? The Avatar's girlfriend? The sister of a future chief? A motherless girl? A blood-bender?"
"Those things don't make up who you are. They're just things about you." I could see the hurt in his eyes but I wasn't sure what exactly I'd said to cause it. Even in my hysteria I still managed to decide that I didn't like it. The events of today came crashing down on me again. All the hurt, the exhaustion, the anger, so I cried. My knees felt weak. Just before I hit the ground Zuko caught me.
I woke a few hours later, in the middle of the night, with Zuko's blanket over me on top of my sleeping bag. I prop myself up on my elbow to look around. There are still embers in the make-shift fire pit along with the almost full moon. Zuko was asleep on Appa's tail across the meadow. I got up and took the blanket over to where he was sleeping. As gently as I could I covered him with it. It wasn't until I was walking away that he showed any signs of actually being awake.
"I need you to clear something up for me. Because one minute you hate me and the next you are indifferent. What is it with you?" I heard him get up and walk towards me, stopping a few feet away.
"Do you hate me?" I was almost afraid to know the answer. My heart skipped a beat when he didn't respond right away. As I thought about it, it'd happened a lot in the last few months. It all started in Ba Sing Se in the crystal catacombs.
"Yes." His voice brought me back to myself and I noticed that he'd moved to stand in front of me. The gentleness in my voice surprised me. When I looked up into his eyes I didn't see a steel expression. Instead I saw trust, pleading, and…love? He wrapped his arm around my waist while tangling the other hand in my hair. He barely hesitated before placing a sweet, gentle kiss on my lips. For reasons I can't explain, my heart rejoiced, like I'd been waiting an eternity to kiss those lips that seemed to fit mine perfectly.
"Good, because I hate you too." I gave him a small half smile. He laughed and kissed me again. I melted into his embrace. When we pulled apart he led me over to Appa's tail before pulling the blanket over the two of us. For the first time I noticed some sort of bug flying around. Every once in a while they would glow.
"Zuko?"
"Hm?"
"What are those bugs?" He lifted his head to see what I was talking about.
"Those are fireflies. Legend says that if you kiss someone that you 'hate' under them then you will live happily ever after with them. But only if that person feels the same way about you." I could feel his heart start to race.
"It's a good thing I feel the same way about you then," I smile over my shoulder at him before giving him a meaningful kiss. I faced forward again and relaxed into the warmth of his embrace, a contented smile on my face.
"I love you Katara," he whispered into my hair, nuzzling his face in my neck.
"I love you too." We fell into a peaceful, blissful sleep under the lucky fireflies.
Okay, so I know this was a little cheesy and sounds like a scene from my story Bedtime Stories but that was kinda the point. I wanted to elaborate on it. However, it ended up taking a different turn, so it's a little different. But that's okay!
I know that it may have seemed like Zuko and Katara were quick to fall in love but we've all seen the episodes. We all know that Zuko pretty much proposed to her in The Waterbending Scroll and Katara started to fall for him at the Spirit Oasis! Hope you enjoyed this :D