My (very) late entry for the last day of Zutara Week 2018. Title comes from the theme song from the 1976 Freaky Friday film with Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris.
A few of the buildings around the ghost town were still burning, giving the air an acrid smell. The fire princess was gone, Iroh was lying unconscious in the dirt as his nephew hunched over his prone form in a panic, and Team Avatar looked on in worry and confusion.
Katara, ever one to reach out to others when they needed help, took a tentative step towards them. "Zuko, I can help."
The distraught Fire Prince sent a wave of fire over Team Avatar's heads. "Leave!" he bellowed.
Sleep deprived, already on edge, and having had enough from the last twenty-four hours, Katara exploded. "All right, listen here you ungrateful jerk!" she bellowed as she stomped towards him. "I don't have to take this kind of talk from you! Your uncle needs help and I can give it, and you being a stubborn stick in the mud isn't going to help him!"
Zuko rose to his full hight and towered over her, eyes set in a hard glare. "Listen well, you pathetic little peasant, I don't want you touching him. I don't trust you. I have no reason to believe that you won't hurt him."
"Oh, yes, I suppose hurting people is something you'd know well," Katara answered with a sneer, roughly poking her finger into his chest. "It seems to be the only thing you're good at."
"Whoa, low blow Sugar Queen," Toph murmured and next to her Aang nodded in agreement.
"In fact," Katara continued, seemingly unaware of Zuko's rising anger, "that seems to be all firebenders are good at. Hurting people and destroying things."
Zuko was seconds from lashing out when a pair of arms wrapped around Katara's waist and bodily hauled her back. "Okay, this has been a good talk," Sokka said he tightened his grasp on his struggling sister. "I think it's time to go."
"I'm not done yelling at him yet!" Katara said as she tried to break free.
"Yes, you are," Sokka said, his grip on her holding firm. "Let's get out of here."
Following his cue, both Aang and Toph followed Sokka to where Appa was, Aang sparing one last look at Zuko and Iroh. The disgraced Fire Prince shook his head, and Aang gave a little nod before trotting off after his friends.
Alone with his uncle, Zuko sighed. He didn't have the right ingredients to make a burn salve, so he'd have to look for some. Perhaps he should have let the waterbender look at his uncle…he shook his head to dismiss the thought. The last thing he needed or wanted was some wishy-washy waterbender tangled up in his life. Nothing more than cowards who never left the safety of their citadel, never taking any risks. No, he was better off without her. Without them.
The "them" in question were slowly walking back to where Appa had settled once the fire had started in earnest, Aang expressing his concerns about Katara's argument with Zuko the whole way.
"I know you wanted to help, but you said some really mean things to Zuko," he said, his brow furrowed. "Believe me, I know how much trouble he's given us before but obviously his situation has changed. You could have tried to be a little more understanding."
"Oh, like he was so understanding of me?" Katara snapped back. "He got back what he gave, Aang."
"Even so," Aang said, sidestepping the larger issue for the time being, "some of that stuff you said…it wasn't okay. Not all firebenders are bad people."
"Yeah, Gramps seemed pretty okay to me," Toph chimed in.
"And remember Jeong Jeong and his group of deserters?" Sokka added. "They were good people."
"Making a blanket statement about firebenders, that seems like stirring up trouble to me," Aang said. "It's almost like asking the spirits to interfere."
Katara snorted. "I'm not afraid of them."
With a wince, Aang replied, "I was worried that you'd say that."
oOo
The next morning dawned bright, and after a full night of rest Katara was feeling better. Toph had refrained from picking at Katara the rest of the evening, and with that relentless trio taken down for a while they'd been able to sleep the whole night. Dew had settled on everyone and Katara plucked at her damp sleeve with a frown.
Well, easy enough to fix. She made the usual gesture to bend the dew out of everyone's clothes but nothing happened. With a frown she tried again, and once more nothing happened.
Her quiet panic grew louder until everyone else woke, all looking at her in varied states of confusion.
"Hey, something wrong?" Sokka asked with a yawn.
"My bending. It's gone!"
Aang grimaced. "I thought that this might happen."
"What do you mean?" Katara said, turning to him. "You're the Avatar, surely you can fix this!"
"I might be able to," Aang said slowly, "but it's possible that it'll be fixed on its own, granted you meet the conditions of whatever spirit did this."
"So what, this is some kind of divine punishment for saying what everyone thinks about firebenders?" she scoffed.
"Yeah, maybe," Aang answered with a shrug.
Toph dissolved into laughter, her ire at being awoken gone. "This is hilarious! Only you, Sugar Queen!"
"This isn't funny Toph!" Katara said through clenched teeth. She was still supposed to be teaching Aang waterbending. How was she supposed to teach him if she couldn't waterbend anymore?
"Maybe not to you, but from where I'm sitting it's a regular laugh riot!" Toph said in obvious glee.
"Ugh, you're so annoying! Auuuuuugh!" As Katara yelled in frustration, a stream of fire escaped from her mouth.
Startled she clamped her mouth shut, her hands flying to cover her lips. Her eyes widened in panic as she glanced at the others. "Oh no," she murmured, "no, no, no, no, no! This isn't happening!"
Aang and Sokka's laughter died and Toph frowned. "What happened? Why did it get so quiet?" she asked, her sightless gaze roving between her companions.
"So, uh, no big deal or anything," Sokka said as he tried to wrap his head around what he'd just seen, "but Katara just breathed fire."
"I'm sorry, that sounded a lot like you said that Katara just breathed fire," Toph said as her frown deepend.
"Because she did," Aang said in awe. "I told you that by talking badly about firebenders that you were just asking for trouble from the spirits."
"So now what?" Toph asked. "Katara's useless if she can't control her firebending not to mention that it makes her a danger to all of us."
"So we need to find someone who can teach her at the very least basic control," Aang said. "But the only person I can think of is Jeong Jeong and he vanished after Zhao attacked his camp. There's no telling where he is now."
"Well, there is someone we could ask for help," Sokka said, but his tone clearly conveyed his belief that nobody else would agree with him.
"Oh no," Katara said, turning to glare at her brother. "No, no, no. Absolutely not!"
"What choice do we have, Katara?" Sokka asked. "Even if Zuko won't help us, his uncle probably will."
"The last time we saw Iroh he was wounded and unconscious. He can't help me if he's wounded and unconscious!"
"I'm pretty sure firebenders know a thing or two on how to treat burns," Sokka answered. "You need help since Aang can't work his Avatar magic to fix this, and they're the best – and closest – candidates."
Katara turned pleading eyes to Aang once more but he shook his head. "Sorry, Katara. I'm with Sokka on this one. Zuko's not as bad as he's tried to make us believe, and I think once you realize that, things will go back to normal."
Sticking her finger in her ear, Katara wiggled it a bit and then pulled it out, checking for wax. Convinced that her ears were clear and that she hadn't misheard Aang, she goggled at him. "I'm sorry, did you just suggest that I what, befriend him?"
"It couldn't hurt," Aang said with a shrug. "He reminds me of Kuzon."
"Who the heck is Kuzon?" Toph asked, cocking her head.
"He was my friend, from the Fire Nation," Aang explained. "Which is also why I refuse to believe that the Fire Nation is unilaterally evil. They're people, just like us."
"Just bent on world domination," Sokka added.
"Some of them, sure," Aang agreed. Too many encounters with Zhao had made it clear that there were those that absolutely believed that it was the Fire Nation's divine right to rule the rest of the world. But the people…maybe the Fire Lords had been careful about how much their people knew. Deserters didn't happen when people genuinely believed in your mission when faced with the reality that contradicted what they were told.
"Okay, so they're not an entire country of power hungry maniacs," Sokka said. "C'mon, let's just find Zuko and his uncle and maybe we can get this fixed by the end of the day."
Toph snorted. "I haven't been with you guys long, but even I'm not stupid enough to believe that this will be all better by tonight."
Katara eyed the small earthbender wearily and hated that she agreed with her.
oOo
As Team Avatar packed up their belongings and loaded them on to Appa to track down Zuko and Iroh, the two firebenders were in a bit of a kerfuffle of their own.
It had started when Zuko had been unable to start the morning fire to heat water for tea and to cook their breakfasts. Being out in the wilds meant that he wasn't reliant on using the spark rocks that had been tossed in the bottom of their packs so as not to rouse suspicion as they traveled across the Earth Kingdom, but he'd had to dig them out anyway. As Iroh slept, Zuko attempted meditating followed by every trick his uncle had taught him about firebending over the last three years to no avail. His spark was gone.
It was during his midmorning panic that Iroh finally roused from his sleep. Zuko's panicked mutterings reached his ears and the older man frowned. It wasn't unusual for Zuko to be in a tizzy about something, but there was just enough panic in the boy's voice that Iroh's gut tightened.
"Nephew?" he croaked, his voice rough from sleep and smoke inhalation.
"Uncle!" Zuko yelped, turning to him. His voice had cracked, something it hadn't done since Zuko's voice had finished changing a year and a half ago.
"Something is wrong," Iroh surmised as he sat up. His shoulder was aching and the dull sensation of burning pricked at his skin. That it wasn't more intense was a relief, it meant that Azula had merely hit him as a means of distracting the others, rather than intending real harm.
"My bending, it's gone," Zuko said. "I tried to light a cook fire earlier and nothing happened and I've meditated but all I can tell is that the spark is gone and I don't know what to do!"
Iroh blinked slowly as he deciphered Zuko's rushed speech. But even without an in depth analysis, he knew something was very wrong.
"Tell me everything that happened after Azula attacked me," he commanded and Zuko sank to the floor in a defeated heap.
Slowly the words poured from his mouth, explaining how after Azula had escaped he'd had words with the Avatar's waterbender. And not nice words, to boot.
"Indeed she said some things that should have remained unsaid," Iroh said he carefully brewed himself some tea. "But your thoughts about the Water Tribe were less than charitable as well. I am no expert, but it appears that a spirit has taken umbrage with your words and taken action."
"What does that even mean?" Zuko cried and the water in the tea pot sloshed. Zuko stared down at it in horror as realization dawned on him.
"It would seem that you are now a waterbender," Iroh answered mildly, as if this weren't an extraordinary occurrence.
"How do we fix this?" Zuko asked, his voice tight.
"I suggest we find the Avatar," Iroh said. "He is the bridge between this world and the Spirit World. Perhaps he can find out exactly what the spirit wants."
"He can't just tell the spirit to make this better? To change me back?!"
Iroh's eyes were hard, but not unkind, as he stared at his nephew. "The spirits are many things, but they don't particularly care about the lives of mortals. That one felt the need to get involved here means that they are more interested in human affairs than most, but they are also unlikely to fix things just because you asked." Zuko snorted, but Iroh continued as if his nephew weren't throwing a tiny tantrum. "It is far more likely that you are to learn a lesson, and once your lesson has been learned things will go back to the way they are supposed to be."
Zuko grumbled something unpleasant under his breath that his uncle pretended not to hear.
"Anyway, my suggestion to find the Avatar stands. Even if he cannot fix this directly, perhaps he can get to the bottom of it. Besides, you need to learn control of your new bending," Iroh said as he poured his tea. "By now the Avatar has mastered waterbending, and his companion should be able to help as well."
Facing the uncomfortable realization that his uncle was right, Zuko sighed and nodded. "Of course, Uncle. But you shouldn't be moving around a lot in your condition."
How fortunate for them that by the time that Iroh felt well enough to get up and leave the abandoned house Zuko had found shelter in, the lowing of the Avatar's air bison resonated through the air. Iroh merely smiled at his nephew's confusion and turned to wave at the approaching group. Zuko watched the air bison land and the quartet clamber down, the Avatar leading the group with a graceful leap from the large creature's head.
"I don't like this," Zuko muttered to his uncle. Iroh, to his credit, kept his pleasant smile in place.
Aang bowed politely before flashing a nervous smile. "You're probably wondering why we're here," he started.
"I have an idea," Iroh answered as he looked past the others to the waterbender standing in the back. She looked nervous and unsure, and Iroh was able to put the pieces together.
Team Avatar looked surprised by his admission. "Wait, you do?" Sokka asked with a frown. "How?"
"The most peculiar thing happened this morning," Iroh said as if he were discussing something as inane as the weather. "My nephew suddenly had the ability to bend water. The connection to his flame seems to have been snuffed out."
Aang looked between Zuko and Katara and it was obvious that the gears were turning. It took him a few moments longer than Iroh but eventually everything slid into place and he sighed. "Oh monkey feathers."
"May I presume that your waterbending friend is no longer connected to her element?" Iroh asked and everyone save the little earthbender winced.
"Can we just assume spirit mischief or something?" Sokka asked rather than answering.
"I think that is a very safe assumption," Iroh said. "My nephew has filled me in as to what happened after my niece wounded me. It seems as though the war of words between my nephew and Miss Katara have upset a spirit and it has seen to take matters into its hands."
The two teens groaned.
"That's what I thought!" Aang said. "It must want them to learn some kind of lesson, but I'm really not sure what."
"There is an old saying, about how one cannot judge another without first walking a mile in their shoes," Iroh explained.
"Right, because then you're a mile away and in their shoes," Toph chimed in.
Iroh chuckled. "Ah, well, I suppose that's true enough, but what it means is that you cannot truly know what burdens another is carrying without first carrying them yourself. It is a reminder not to judge people harshly without knowing them, and to be kind to everyone we meet as we do not always know the circumstances of their life. Words spoken in haste often have far reaching consequences."
"Like getting your bending swapped," Sokka said.
"Exactly," Iroh agreed. "I don't wish to presume, but it could be possible that the spirit wishes Miss Katara and my nephew to walk a mile in the other's shoes. Or at the very least come to understand that their differences are not so vast and insurmountable as they seem to think."
"So now what?" Toph asked.
"Well, I guess they'll have to learn how to bend," Aang said. "I can work with Zuko."
The exiled Fire Prince scowled at the Avatar. "No." A glare from his uncle had him tack on a terse, "Thank you."
"You really don't have a choice," Katara snorted. "It's not like I can teach you."
"Why, in losing your bending did you forget the forms?" Zuko sneered.
Katara took a deep breath and tamped down her anger. Any more when she let her rage get the better of her, something ended up on fire. Several times it was their supplies though once it was the tip of Momo's tail. After that Aang had taught her some exercises to keep her anger controlled so that nobody else had to deal with the indignity of singed fur, hair, or clothing.
"No, but it doesn't do you any good if you can't see what the water is supposed to be doing," she answered tightly. "So perhaps Aang and I will teach you the basics of waterbending?"
Glancing back at his uncle, who was smiling in that benign way that made Zuko wonder if his uncle had lost his mental faculties or was simply pretending that he lost them. "I suppose I have no choice. But in return you have to learn firebending from me and my uncle. Do we have a deal?"
"Not yet," Sokka said, stepping between Zuko and Katara. "I want you to promise that you won't try to kidnap Aang and take him to the Fire Nation."
Zuko glared at him. "Why would I do that?"
"Because you spent three months trying to do just that, and the last time we saw you, you definitely had a vested interest in taking Aang for yourself until Crazy Blue Fire proved to be a bigger threat and it was more beneficial for you to side with us," Sokka pointed out.
"I doesn't matter. As I am now I can't return, even with the Avatar."
There was a gleam in Iroh's eyes now. He had no idea how long his nephew would remain a waterbender – his coin was on weeks, if not a full month given Zuko's notorious stubbornness – but that could work. A month spent with the Avatar was a month that Zuko could realize his destiny.
Spirits had a funny way of going about things.
"Well then, it's settled. We'll travel with you and that way Miss Katara and Prince Zuko can train in their new elements," Iroh said brightly.
"And don't forget," Toph said with a bright smile, "somewhere in there, Twinkle Toes in mine."
oOo
The first three days were the hardest. The first order of business was to move a bit further away from the ghost town where Azula had cornered them. The second was to find an adequate spot where Toph could teach Aang earthbending, Aang and Katara could teach Zuko waterbending, and Zuko and Iroh could teach Katara firebending.
"Right, so we just need a spot with lots of rock, a source of water, and nothing super flammable nearby. Great," Sokka groaned as he looked over one of his maps.
"If we keep our eyes open, I'm sure we can find the perfect spot," Iroh reasoned.
Next to him Zuko sat in silence.
"Air travel doesn't agree with you either, huh?" Toph observed from across the saddle and Zuko let out a quiet groan.
"You do get used to it eventually," Sokka assured them both.
"I don't want to get used to it," Zuko muttered, but the reality that he very well could still loomed over him.
"There, that looks good!" Katara called. It was a secluded valley with a small lake tucked to one side, and on either side of the valley slopes were areas of solid rock and light forest.
Sokka looked over to where Katara was pointing and nodded. "Yup, meets all the requirements. Let's get Appa down!"
"On it!" Aang called as he gently steered Appa to an open spot. Momo chittered anxiously from atop Aang's head.
They set about to getting camp up before Iroh declared that now as a good a time as any for bending lessons.
On day three both Katara and Zuko had basic techniques down. Zuko was able to push and pull water and had begun passing water with Aang, while Katara had learned how to create and control a small flame in the palm of her hand. Most of her training, though, had consisted of meditation and breathing exercises. It was hardly exciting but she also realized that it was difficult to hurt someone when all she was doing was maintaining a small burning hole in the center of a leaf.
Zuko was currently standing in the small lake in his underwear as Katara's hands moved about his arms and legs. "Stance, Zuko, stance!" she said as she put her hands on his shoulders to make them relax. "A tense waterbender is a dead waterbender."
Zuko looked over to where Aang was working on his octopus form. "Did she do this to you?"
"Yup!" the Avatar chirped. "She still does it, actually."
"Airbending is similar to waterbending, but sometimes his forms slip and I have to correct him," Katara said as she moved on to adjusting his arm. "Okay, there. Try again."
Taking a breath, he mimicked the movements she and Aang had been teaching him. A water whip formed, but it lacked any real finesse or power. He frowned.
"You're doing fine, all things considered," Katara said with a nod. "At least we're not completely soaked this time."
That was true enough. The first several attempts Zuko made to pass a blob of water to the Avatar wound up soaking everyone. He was incredibly relieved to find that Katara's undergarments were opaque, though it didn't stop his brain from wondering what would have happened if they weren't.
Why now, of all times, did he have to remember that he was a teenage boy?
"Why is this so difficult?" he growled, trying to keep his rogue thoughts and anger from getting the better of him.
"Probably because water is your opposite element," Aang answered as he moved onto more difficult forms. "It's the same reason why I'm struggling with earthbending."
"Katara's not struggling with firebending though," Zuko pointed out. Indeed she was progressing nicely for a beginner. Even Zuko hadn't had the same ease of learning that she had starting out.
"Says you," she snorted. "I am struggling; I'm just really good at hiding it." Then she shrugged. "But your uncle is an excellent teacher, and any time I find myself struggling with a concept he walks me through it in a way I understand."
Zuko blinked as if this was the most profound thing he'd ever heard in his life. Maybe it was. "Yes," he said slowly, his mind still turning over her words, "that's true."
"Please, like you weren't some kind of amazing bender as a child?" Katara said, a hand on her hip as she looked at him in disbelief.
"I wasn't, actually," Zuko admitted and he wanted to smack himself for even saying that aloud. These people weren't his friends. They didn't need to know this.
"You're so full of crap," Katara said. Aang frowned at her, but remained silent.
"Not that it matters to you, but I was weak as a kid. They actually thought I wasn't a bender at all," he answered. Damn it, why couldn't he stop talking?! "My father actually suggested that I be expelled from the palace and left to die. It was only because my mother and the Fire Sages intervened that it didn't happen."
Katara was full on gawking now. Zuko, who stood before her in all of his lean, muscled glory, was a weak child? Zuko, who felt as solid and firm as the ground beneath their feet had been so unimpressive that his own father had suggested to just let the boy die?
Wanting nothing more than for the earth to open up and swallow him whole, Zuko turned on his heel and marched out of the lake. "I'm hungry," he grunted as he stooped to pick up his clothes, before heading back towards camp.
"That…was unexpected," Aang said.
"No kidding," Katara replied, and she wondered just how badly she had misjudged the Fire Prince.
oOo
Two days after that Zuko was confronted by Sokka, who'd found the dual dao blades while "searching for supplies." Zuko knew, as did everyone else in the camp, that Sokka had been snooping because that's who Sokka was, but let it slide. Getting mad at Katara's brother wasn't going to do anyone any favors. Especially him in regards to Katara. So instead he explained that he'd been given lessons in swordsmanship as a child. Somehow that led to him teaching Sokka the basics of swordplay.
"Such lively friends you have!" Iroh commented one evening as Sokka headed down to the lake to bathe upon his sister's demand. Zuko sat down to tend to his blades, grunting as his uncle.
"They're not my friends."
Iroh tsked at his nephew. "It may have only been a few days, but even I can tell that they have become your friends."
"I seriously doubt that Katara considers me a friend."
That much, at least, was true. Aang had become an unexpected ally in waterbending training, and oddly Zuko found that he didn't mind when the excitable boy talked about traveling the Fire Nation as a child and his friends there. Something melancholy would settle in his chest as he listened to the Avatar speak about the dragons and the food and the culture. A relic of a long forgotten era that would never come back, and yet…
No. It was best not to think about it.
His next ally had been Toph. The blunt earthbender had quickly wormed her way into Zuko's affections with her frank manner and her general disdain of nobility. It was something that Zuko could definitely relate to. He hated the snobbery and politics of the upper class. He had hated how fake everyone was, especially around him and his family. Toph could relate and the two would sometimes swap stories, with Iroh joining in occasionally with tales from his youth. Some things, it seemed, never changed.
Sokka was the most recent ally made. Out of all of them, the only one that Zuko could even reasonably think to call a friend was Toph, and that was because she was a recent addition to Team Avatar and her history with him consisted of a brief meeting in a ghost town less than a week ago. Aang was friendly enough, and he certainly made it clear that he wanted to be friends with Zuko, but it seemed weird.
Katara was the lone holdout. She was never outwardly mean or cold to him. If anything she was pleasantly aloof, but almost to an uncomfortable degree, like there was extra effort just for him.
"If you're still having problems with Katara, perhaps you should spend some time with her. Alone."
"Uncle!" Zuko squawked, nearly cutting himself on the edge of one of his blades.
"I didn't mean like that," Iroh said dryly. "I meant that you two should simply take some time to yourselves to talk and clear the air without the added pressure from the others."
Flushing, Zuko ducked his head. Yes, of course that's what his uncle meant. "I guess."
Of course trying to find a way to spend time with Katara alone was easier said than done. Aang followed her around like a shadow, even when he had other things that needed to be attended to. Sokka made it clear during their first sparring session that if Zuko did anything untoward towards his sister, he would get to know Boomerang and Club very well.
Toph, thankfully, didn't care at all, though her occasional quips that maybe they should just kiss and see if that fixed anything were annoying. At least she was joking. Mostly.
"Lovely moon this evening," his uncle said.
Zuko glanced up at the sky. The moon was near to full, shining brightly in the clear sky. How very different it looked from a few months ago when it had gone red and the waterbenders had…Zuko blinked. Glancing at his uncle, who was placidly sipping his tea, Zuko was certain that his uncle's mind was a sharp as ever despite his outward oblivious appearance.
Aang was engaged in some kind of game with Toph as Momo looked on. Sokka was just coming back from his bath. Katara was in her tent setting up her bedroll for the night.
And the moon was nearly full.
Getting to his feet Zuko tried to figure out how to best pose his question. Asking wrong could result in crushed toes or worse. Sucking in a breath and hoping he didn't sound like an idiot, he called her name just outside the tent she shared with Sokka.
"What?" she asked, poking her head through the flap, a frown on her face.
"Oh, uh, are you busy?"
"Not particularly, just taking care of some small odds and ends," she said as she stepped fully from the tent, one of her tunics in hand. He could see a small bone needle stuck in the fabric.
"It's just that the moon is nearly full," he said.
Looking up, one of her eyebrows rose. "Incredible observation, Captain Obvious."
"Waterbenders get their power from the moon. When the moon is full they are at their strongest," Zuko said in irritation. "That obviously affects how one's bending will react."
Katara blinked up at him. "Oh, well yeah. That's true."
"Aang's already admitted that he can't really tell the difference between a new moon and full moon on his waterbending, probably because he's not a waterbender by birth," Zuko said, recalling a conversation he'd had with Aang over dinner a few nights ago about bending in general. "But you're a born waterbender. Surely you've felt the difference."
"Are you saying that you can feel the difference right now than from earlier this week?"
"Oh, well no but I also haven't tried bending yet. I thought that, uh, we could go down to the lake and just do some basic stuff to see if I can sense a difference."
She looked surprised, but not unpleasantly so. "Yeah, sure. I'm kind of surprised you want to."
"Well I was thinking about giving you some firebending exercises. Like waterbenders use the moon, firebenders use the sun. Since the sun's gone down, you should feel a difference," he pointed out.
"Right, of course," she said with a nod. "Let's go."
Their walk to the lake was silent, with an undercurrent of strain. When they reached the shore, Katara gestured to the water. "Okay, what did you have in mind?"
"Well, nothing big," Zuko answered drolly.
"Push and pull it is," she said as she stepped back. "Go ahead and do it like you've done in practice and tell me what feels different."
Taking a deep breath and focusing his chi, Zuko reached out to the water and felt it answer his call. It hadn't been a full week yet and it still felt weird. He wondered if it would ever stop feeling weird. Slowly he rocked back and forth, only for the water respond as if he'd put his whole body into it.
"Well that's new," he said as the waves lapped at the shore.
"Tell me how it felt, Zuko," Katara said, voice terse.
"Oh, right. Uh, effortless, I guess? Like I didn't have to do much to get the water to respond."
She nodded. "Right. Try a water whip."
With a sigh Zuko pulled of his boots, followed by his shirt and pants. The cool spring breeze made his skin erupt in duckflesh and once more he was reminded of his lack of firebending.
"What are you doing?"
Turning to glare at his companion, Zuko gestured to the lake. "I don't have mastery of the water whip yet, and given that I don't know what it'll do under these conditions I really don't want to have to wait on my clothes drying. My undergarments are, at the very least, manageable."
Recognizing his valid point, Katara scooped up his things and wisely moved further away from the shore.
"Well," he muttered as he adjusted his stance, "here goes nothing."
Predictably he got wet when the whip went out of his control, but at least it was nothing more than some rogue spray. Rather than soaked he was damp, and he could air dry as he gave Katara her lesson.
She had folded his clothes and set them neatly next to his boots. Settled on the grass, she watched him approach. "So, verdict."
"It really doesn't take much," he said as he sat down across from her. "Even the littlest effort has larger consequences."
"It's why discipline is necessary. During a full moon our abilities are amplified, and if we're not careful people could be easily hurt."
"Not unlike firebending," Zuko said. "Which brings us to your portion of the evening."
"Joy," Katara said. "What am I doing?"
"I need you to create a flame and keep it steady for say…two minutes," Zuko said.
She frowned, but settled herself into her meditative pose. Cupping her hands in her lap, she summoned the flames to her hands. Or at least tried to. Without the sun to help her abilities she found it harder to call the flames to her hand. Concentrating, she finally managed to conjure a flame only for it to flare up and immediately go out as she was startled and her concentration broken as she flailed back into the grass.
"Are you hurt?" Zuko asked, leaning forward as his eyes scanned her body for any sign of injury.
"Only my pride," she groaned as she sat up.
"What did it feel like?"
"Like I was fighting with spark rocks," she said as she settled back into her pose. "Like no matter how many times I struck them together I couldn't get a proper spark."
Zuko nodded. "That's a good way of putting it. You have to find a balance between coaxing the flame to life and then keeping it from getting too big."
"Right. Balance," Katara said as she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. Iroh was constantly talking about firebending coming from the breath. So maybe if she breathed on the spark she could coax it into becoming a flame.
The second attempt was successful and held the flame in her hand as unwaveringly as possible. She was vaguely aware of Zuko counting in the background as she kept her focus on the flame. By the time Zuko called time she felt like she'd run Aang through some of the hardest waterbending katas half a dozen times.
Collapsing back on the grass, she looked up to see Zuko peering down at her with a half-smile on his face. "Not as easy as it seems, right?"
"How do you guys even fight at night?"
"With lots and lots of training," Zuko said as he sat down next to her. "Like with any form of bending, you build up stamina and endurance so you can keep bending even when conditions are against you."
That was certainly true. Pakku had put her through her paces, training her up to make sure she could keep going even when she was tired.
"We start with little things since beginners are kids," Zuko continued. "We light candles or lamps just to get used to lighting something when it's dark. Later we learn actual katas and routinely practice at night, but we're never as strong as we are during the middle of the day."
Thinking back to their duel in the Spirit Oasis, Zuko had been a tough opponent in the middle of the night, when the moon was nearly full and she had the clear advantage. By morning he'd wiped the floor with her, when the advantage had been his.
"Consider the point made." She let out a soft groan as she tried to sit up. "You know what, I'm just gonna sleep here."
"Can't do that. I don't want your brother to lecture me about how to properly care for you, I definitely don't want a lecture from my uncle about the proper way to treat a girl, and I really, really don't want to deal with whatever guilt Aang will fling my direction for leaving you out here even if it was your idea."
"What, nothing about Toph?"
"Toph would leave you out here and you know it," Zuko said with a smirk.
"Yeah, yeah," she grumbled. Blinking, she stared up at him. "When did you get dressed?"
"When I was counting. I can multitask you know." He offered his hand and waited for her to take it.
Hesitantly she reached up and placed her hand in his. It was warm and she could feel the calluses on his fingers and palms from his sword use. How very different he was from how she assumed him to be.
The next morning, Zuko was pleasantly surprised when she greeted him with a genuine smile.
oOo
"What are you doing?" Katara asked after watching Zuko haul armloads of wood to the lake shore. After Zuko's morning waterbending lesson he'd thrown on his clothes and then immediately headed into the nearby woods to collect large sticks and fallen branches. It appeared that he was building a pyre, but the purpose was unknown.
Placing the most recent stack of wood onto the growing pile, he made little adjustments so the pile wouldn't collapse. "Building the foundation for a bonfire."
"Any particular reason, or you just felt like lighting something up?"
"You're going to light it up." He gestured to it. "Behold, your next exercise."
Walking over to it, she frowned. "You're joking."
"I don't joke."
"Yesterday you cracked that Sokka's swordsmanship looked like he was flailing a couple of dead fish around."
"That was a sarcastic observation, not a joke."
"Whatever. So you want me to set this on fire." She scowled at him. "Seems too easy."
"Very good. It is too easy," Zuko said. "We're in a relatively open space where a large fire will attract attention. Probably unwanted attention. Your task is to keep the fire from burning too big and too hot. The wood is dry so it shouldn't smoke too badly."
"So it's an exercise in control."
"Ah, you've noticed the theme."
She bit her lip, brow furrowing as she stared at the wood pile. "Is this what learning basic firebending is? Exercises in control?"
"A village may be leveled just as easily by a flood, tornado, or landslide as it could be by fire. The thing about fire is that we require it to function in our daily lives. We use it to heat our homes and cook our food. We use it to light up dark places. Carelessness can have dire consequences."
"I guess that's not something I've ever worried about as a waterbender," Katara mused. If she got upset water would slosh out of washbasins or collection barrels, but it was unlikely that there'd be any permanent damage. But a firebender that lost control, that could burn an entire village to the ground before it could be stopped, simply because a cook fire or a candle got too big.
"Are you going to do it, or are you going to back out?" Zuko asked.
"Alright, alright, I'll do it," she huffed. "Honestly."
Taking her opening stance, Katara summoned fire to her hands and pushed it onto the stack of firewood. The dry wood caught easily and burned brightly, leaving Katara amazed that it had actually worked.
"Okay, it's lit. Now what?" Zuko prompted as he paced behind her.
"Um, reach out, and try to decrease the size of the flames," she answered adjusting her stance into something more meditative.
"Good," Zuko prompted.
She stood close the fire, keeping her breath steady as she held the flames at bay. Rather than a roaring bonfire, instead it just slowly ate at the wood, reducing it to coals.
"Remember to be aware of your environment," Zuko said from somewhere behind her. "It responds to other elements, especially air, with little warning."
Concentration broken, Katara looked back at him. "What does that mean?"
Zuko didn't have a chance to answer. As it stood he barely had time to shout her name in warning as a stiff breeze raced along the shoreline and added oxygen to the low burning fire, causing it to flare up and the large pile to ignite in the blink of an eye.
Throwing her arms up to protect her face, Katara screamed as the heat rushed towards her. A horrible flashback of Aang playing with fire raced through her mind but this time she didn't have her bending. She wasn't able to heal herself.
"Let me see," Zuko said, appearing out of nowhere at her side and gently taking her hands. The backs of her fingers were lightly burned, as was the underside of her forearms. He could feel the heat radiating from the skin, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no signs of blistering. Somewhere in her pain addled mind she registered the bonfire had been doused and was nothing more than a steaming pile of charred logs, but she couldn't recall watching Zuko do it.
"It's going to be okay," he soothed, gently turning her arms to and fro. "It's just a superficial burn. It hurts but there won't be any lasting damage. At its worst the top layer of skin will peel off but there's no danger of infection."
"It still hurts," she whimpered softly.
"I know," he murmured, one hand drifting up to touch the edge of his scar. "C'mon. We have burn salve back at camp."
"No!" she gasped. "Sokka will kill you. And so will Aang."
"It was an accident!" Zuko said with a frown. "How is it my fault?"
"Your training exercise," she hissed out in pain. "Water. I need water."
"Katara, you can't bend it," he reminded her.
"But it'll soothe the burn, right? The lake water is cold."
It was a fair point and Zuko couldn't really argue against it, so he helped her to the water and eased her down into the cool shallows.
"The last time this happened, I healed myself," she muttered as the water took the edge off the stinging pain in her hands and arms.
"Wait, the last time?" Frowning, Zuko wondered if he'd injured her beyond just knocking her out in the Spirit Oasis. He certainly hadn't intended to do anything beyond knocking her out, but the feeling of dread that pooled in his stomach at the thought of carelessly burning her weighed heavily in his gut.
"We met a Fire Nation deserter, who tried to teach Aang firebending," she explained between calming breaths. "Aang was impatient and wanted to learn the big, flashy moves."
Zuko looked horrified. "Surely he's not that stupid."
"He's twelve," Katara answered with a small, pained smile. "Sometimes his enthusiasm outpaces his common sense."
"You got hurt," Zuko said, glaring down at her arms.
"He burned my hands. Instinctively I put them in a nearby stream and I healed myself." She wiggled her fingers in the water. "Waterbenders can heal, by using the water to manipulate the chi in the body to speed up the natural healing processes."
"Can any waterbender do it?" he asked, brow furrowing.
"Theoretically yes," she replied. "Though only women learn. Men learn combat, women learn healing."
"You learned combat."
"Only by picking a fight with the waterbending master," she said with a cheeky grin. "I think the only reason why he agreed was that he was in love with my Gran when they were younger and was going to marry her. He made my necklace you know, as a symbol of their engagement. But Gran decided she wanted more than to keep his home and bear him children and ran away. She sailed from the North Pole to the South Pole all by herself."
Zuko recalled the old woman that Katara had been standing next to when he'd assaulted what was left of the Southern Water Tribe to find the Avatar. No wonder the woman hadn't been scared. Nothing would rattle her if she could sail from one pole to the other and live.
"So in you he saw the woman he'd loved and agreed to take you on, huh?"
"I think maybe he saw me as the grandchild he could have had, and would he have been willing to waste my talents? I guess the answer was no. I was far better than anyone else in his classes. Even the advanced students were afraid of me by the end."
"But you learned healing, too?"
"Seemed like a good idea with a war going on," she shrugged.
"So…how do you do it?" Zuko's face was serious as he studied her hands and arms submerged in the water.
"Well, you take water and place it against the affected area and manipulate the chi. Usually where there's sickness or injury the chi is tangled up. By untangling it you can speed up the healing process."
Mouth set in firm line of determination, Zuko pulled water to his hand. With his free hand he pulled one of Katara's arms from the water by the elbow. The redness on her forearm was still there, but the initial heat of the burn was starting to abate. Still, the angry skin needed more attention. He placed his water gloved hand against the skin and opened his senses to her chi. He could feel it, pulsing and tangled, in the burn. It was so different than his own chi manipulation for his firebending.
When the water lit up in bright blue, he inhaled sharply.
Katara snorted at his surprise. "Don't worry, that means it's working."
"This is normal?" he squawked.
"Very," she answered before letting out a small sigh. "Oh, that's much better."
"So it's really working?"
Katara opened her mouth to make a smart retort, but the look of awe on his face made the words clog in her throat. Words from days past echoed in her head, about how he hadn't been a great bender. More than that she remembered how even when he was frustrated with learning a new waterbending form, he would keep at it until he got it. Maybe he didn't do it perfectly, but he had the basics down and on his own he would continue to work on the forms that gave him the most trouble until he could claim mastery of them.
Despite his royal birth things had never come easily to him. Zuko had fought and struggled for what he had. His skill and control as a firebender was a direct result of his work ethic.
"Am I doing something wrong?"
"Hmm?" she answered, his voice pulling her out of her thoughts.
"You looked really pensive. I thought…maybe…I was doing something wrong?" He sounded so scared, so uncertain.
Guilt twisted in her stomach. What had happened to him that he would expect anger for being unable to execute a more advanced technique? "Oh, no! No you're actually doing really well. The burns don't even hurt anymore. See?" She pulled away from him and held them up for inspection.
Dropping the water he gently ran his fingers over the previous burned areas and nodded. "Yeah, looks good."
"Well, you did good," she said awkwardly. "Um, maybe you could dry us off. If we arrive back at camp soaked, there are going to be questions. Lots of questions."
"Oh, yeah, right, c'mon," Zuko said, wading towards shore. He really didn't want to see what an angry Sokka or Aang were capable of.
oOo
Tensions in camp had been running high. Katara and Zuko were finally getting along, dare anyone say they were actually friendly with each other, but unfortunately things between Katara and Toph were still rough and continuing to deteriorate. Aang, ever the peacemaker, tried to smooth things over but was immediately dismissed and he'd taken to foraging for fruits and vegetables with Momo in the nearby forest.
Sokka had returned from hunting victorious and had field dressed the animals which were now simmering in a pot of stew. Since then he'd grabbed Zuko and headed to a more secluded spot to work on his swordsmanship in an attempt to get a little peace and quiet. It worked for a while, until Toph came stomping over.
"What is her deal, Snoozles?" Toph huffed as she sat down. "Why does she insist on mothering everyone but Zuko?"
"Probably because until a few days ago she didn't even really like Zuko," Sokka answered. "Is this what this whole thing is about? She's mothering you?"
"She might actually be worse than my real mother," Toph said. "Is your mom completely overbearing and that's where she learned it from?"
Sokka stilled, his eyes glazing over for a moment before he snapped back to the conversation. "Oh, uh, no. Mom…Mom was pretty reasonable, actually. She was okay with us running around the village within reason."
"Wait, was?" Zuko said, his hearing zeroing in on the past tense.
"Yeah, Mom died almost five years ago," Sokka explained softly. "To be honest, when I think of a mother figure it's Katara's face I see. After Mom died, Katara immediately picked up the slack. Gran-Gran tried to get her to go back to being a kid but Katara was determined to fill the gap Mom left behind."
"How did she die?" Zuko asked in a strangled whisper. His own mother had been missing for a year longer, but he had no idea if she were alive or dead.
"A Fire Nation raid. It started and then it was over. Initially we all thought we'd gotten off easy, but when Dad and I got home we found Mom dead on the floor with a burn on her chest and Katara crying over her body," Sokka answered dully.
"Oh," Toph said softly.
Silence descended on everyone as they became wrapped up in their thoughts. It was in this contemplative silence that Iroh and Aang found them, the two exchanging a worried glance. Silence was never a good sign.
"I expected things to be livelier," Iroh commented. "Surely by now Sokka should be coming up with creative excuses as to why he can't beat Zuko in a sparring match."
"Sorry, things got a little heavy," Sokka said as he smoothed his hand over his wolf-tail. "Is Katara okay?"
"She requested to be left alone, but by all accounts she's fine. Just taking a moment to collect her thoughts by the lake," Iroh answered. "Now, who wants some tea?"
"Everything okay?" Aang asked as he fell into step next to Zuko as they made their way back to camp.
"Maybe. I do need to talk to Katara, though," Zuko answered. "Sokka may have given me the information I needed to make a full breakthrough with her."
"I thought you were friends now."
"We're friendly," Zuko conceded, "but she really doesn't trust me yet. But maybe that can change."
Aang chuckled. "I think against your wishes you became friends with us."
Zuko grunted. "Yeah, yeah."
Aang laughed harder before darting ahead to catch up with Iroh.
Veering off towards the lake, Zuko found Katara sitting on the shore and staring out at the water. The sun was beginning to set and the sky was brilliant shades of pink and purple. Without a word he walked up to her and sat down. She glanced his direction but said nothing as well. They sat together watching the sun sink lower until the sky was growing darker and the first stars appeared.
"I was eleven when my mother disappeared. I don't know what happened to her," Zuko said at long last, breaking the silence and startling Katara.
"She came to my room late one night and told me to never forget who I was, and the next morning nobody knew where she was. She was gone, and my grandfather was dead. The two are probably related but I have no idea how."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Toph's upset about you making sure that she's taking care of herself. She was complaining to Sokka and I was there. She asked about your mother."
Katara flinched and Zuko knew he'd found his in.
"Sokka doesn't know what really happened to her, does he?"
"What makes you say that?"
"Because your determination to fill the gap your mother left behind reeks of guilt. But that's what I don't get. Your mother was obviously killed by a firebender, so why do you feel guilty? Because you couldn't defend her? You were a child, Katara. There's no way you could have taken on a fully trained adult firebender, especially without any kind of training."
"I don't see why this is any of your business," she hissed.
"Because clearly your problem with firebenders, with me, stem from your mother's death," Zuko answered. "Therefore it's my business."
She glared at him before she spoke. "You know what, yes, you're right. The Fire Nation, firebenders, have hurt me personally. They took away my mother."
"Finally, common ground," Zuko sighed.
"Common ground?" she snarled. "Common ground?!"
"Katara, like it or not, Fire Nation politics caused my mother to vanish from my life." He took a deep breath and then began explaining the days that led up to his mother's disappearance. The death of his uncle's only son and how it had broken the old general. His father asking his grandfather to be made the heir to the throne as he had two living children. His sister telling him that their grandfather was going to punish their father by forcing him to kill his first born child so that he too may know that pain. His mother's panicked reaction to hearing that.
"Mom thought it was Azula telling lies again," Zuko said bitterly, "but probably not. Maybe she traded her life for mine."
A choked sob escaped Katara's throat. Zuko had been staring out at the water as he talked, as it was easier than looking at her. Now that he looked he could see the tear tracks on her cheeks in the moonlight.
"Katara?" he asked, a tiny note of panic in his voice.
"I guess we do have common ground," she hiccupped. "Mom…she…she gave her life for mine. She told them that she was the last southern waterbender to protect me. She died because she told them that."
"Katara…"
"It's my fault she's gone."
"No, it's my family's fault," Zuko said. "And frankly I understand why you despise me."
"I don't…I don't despise you," Katara said slowly as she turned to him. "You're a lot of things, but I don't think you're necessarily a bad person."
"Oh. Um, thanks."
An awkward silence fell between them, Zuko fidgeting with a loose thread on his trousers as Katara started out at the lake. Eventually she cleared her throat.
"Sooo…would you be willing to tell me about your scar?"
"That's…" Zuko trailed off. The wound still felt too fresh, but his uncle had insisted on talking about it, even after Zuko's repeated entreaties to leave it alone. But telling Katara about his mother had been cathartic and it was possible that the same kind of catharsis would apply to his scar. Maybe it was finally time to talk about it.
"I was thirteen and naïve," Zuko sighed.
Katara listened in rapt attention as he detailed the war meeting and his objections to using untrained soldiers as bait. How he accepted the challenge from the general only to learn that it would be his father he'd face in the arena. How he had begged for forgiveness and got half of his face burned off instead.
"You know," she said casually as Zuko concluded his story by explaining why he'd been determined to capture Aang, "I really wanted to punch your dad in the face before, but now I just want to shove an icicle through his heart."
"Katara!"
"Look, I know he's your dad and there's a lot of baggage tied up in that," she said, "but he's treated your terribly. You were a child who made the apparent fatal mistake of caring about the people you had been told that you would one day lead. You were punished for caring about the people under you and that's a load of air bison crap if I've ever heard one."
Zuko blinked at her, as having seen exactly what constituted an air bison bowel movement made the analogy rather…vivid. "Uhh…"
"Your father is not only a terrible person but a terrible father and frankly you're better off without him. Did he ever reach out to you after you were exiled? Did he ever make any kind of inquiry as to your wellbeing?"
"I don't think so…"
"Your uncle has been a better father to you than your actual father! Why haven't you ditched that ungrateful son of a hog-monkey anyway?"
"That's a bit extreme…"
"Not to mention your rather homicidal sister! You're so much better off without them. Tell me, do you have friends waiting on your return? Anyone who wants to see you return to the line of succession? What does your uncle think about all this?"
"Well, uh…"
"Seriously Zuko, you can do so much better than your immediate family."
"Listen, it's not that easy, okay? I spent my entire childhood trying to live up to my father's standards and I was miserable the whole time!"
"Did it ever occur to you that the reason you were miserable was because you were trying too hard to be someone other than yourself?" Katara asked.
Zuko opened his mouth to retort but promptly shut it again when he found that he had no retort. His mother's last words to him echoed through his mind. Had she seen what was happening and tried to warn him one last time before she left? Had she tried to arm him with the advice that he needed to survive, only for him to promptly forget it in order to earn his father's favor?
"My head hurts," he groaned as he cradled his head in his hands.
"Just something to think about," Katara said lightly.
"I hate you."
"No you don't."
He sighed. "You're right, I don't."
They sat in silence, the only sounds being the lapping of the water against the shore and the chirping of insects.
"After we left you in that ghost town, Aang warned me that I had been unfair to firebenders on the whole," Katara said softly. "That by making blanket statements about them lacking control I would upset the spirits. I didn't realize how much control was required to even just do basic firebending. The tiniest lapse in concentration or judgement could lead to a disaster or serious injury." She paused, her face scrunched up in thought before she spoke again. "I didn't understand or appreciate just how great your control is. Sometimes you're impulsive and hot headed, but you rarely let it affect your bending."
Zuko snorted. "Trust me, it's affected my bending plenty. I just don't let it happen unless I know nothing is going to be damaged or hurt."
She leaned over and nudged him with her shoulder. With a sigh, he knew he had to confess his own inner failings as well. "When you left us, I had some very unpleasant thoughts about waterbenders. I considered you useless and cowards. The Northern Water Tribe stayed holed up in their citadel, never really engaging the Fire Nation Navy unless they wandered into their territory. I didn't realize that it was because they would have been wiped out otherwise. The whole reason why the North still stands is because they played to their advantage. It may seem like cowardice but it's tactical brilliance. When I'm away from the lake I can only bend whatever water is near me. I can't just summon it from nowhere; it has to be pulled from somewhere. And healing! I didn't know waterbenders could even do that!"
"Well, women aren't exactly encouraged to be on the front lines, and no firebender that's been healed by a waterbender has ever been able to tell the tale," Katara answered with a smirk.
"The point is," Zuko said with a small glare, "is that I was just as wrong about waterbenders as you were about firebenders."
"So, does this make us friends?" Katara asked, cocking her head.
"Uh, I don't know," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "I've never had friends before."
"Oh, well then," she said with a nod, "we're not just friends, we're best friends now."
Zuko honest to spirits blushed. "Really?"
"Yup. You're stuck with me. For life."
"Is that…is that how best friends work?"
"You also get hugs," Katara said before she moved and wrapped him up in her arms. He sat there stiff and awkward until she pulled away. "Um, we'll work on that."
"Oh, uh, sure," Zuko answered, his blush getting brighter. Katara's face was inches from his own and he blinked, realizing that he'd never really taken the time to look at her before. She was pretty, on top of being kind and generous and fun to be around. Oh. He coughed, quickly derailing that line of thought. "We should get back to camp. I'm sure the others are wondering where we are."
Pulling back, Katara nodded. Zuko did not miss the light blush on her cheeks. "Right…wouldn't want to worry them."
As they made their way back to camp, their minds turned over the revelations made. They were given quiet greetings when they returned, before they disappeared into their respective tents without saying a word to anyone.
"Do you think they're okay?" Aang asked, his grip tightening around the teacup in his hands and brow furrowing.
Iroh smiled. "I believe they are going to be just fine."
oOo
Zuko's eyes popped open, his body feeling as if someone had struck a match within him. Breathing deeply he sat up, much to his uncle's surprise. Iroh blinked at his nephew, who was staring at him in equal amounts of confusion and wonder.
"Nephew, it's been a few weeks since you last woke so early," Iroh said.
"I…" Zuko paused as he tried to asses exactly what he was feeling. "I feel normal."
"Normal is relative," Iroh murmured as he studied the young man sitting awkwardly before him.
"The last two weeks I've felt off, like part of me was missing."
"Part of you was missing."
"Well it doesn't feel like it's missing anymore."
"Is it?"
Zuko jerked as he realized what his uncle was suggesting. Holding his hand out he opened his palm, eyes widening as a flame leaped to life within it. There was no way to say how it happened for sure, but his bending was back. He was back.
Clenching his hand into a fist, he extinguished the flame before tossing his bedroll off of him and scrambling from the tent.
"Where are you going, Prince Zuko?" Iroh asked the empty tent, a small smile on his face.
Katara, on the other hand, had been taking some extra sleep for the first time in two weeks, only to be rudely awoken when a hand grabbed her ankle and pulled.
"Hey!" she yelped, scrabbling at the bedroll.
"This can't wait!" Zuko said as he hauled her, bedroll and all, from the tent. He held up his hand and summoned the flame, a wide smile on his face.
Sokka's sleepy face was poking out of the tent he shared with Katara, and the way Toph's earthen tent came slamming down it was clear that she was now awake. Aang's head popped up from Appa's saddle, Momo still curled up on his head like a hat.
"What's going on?" Aang asked before stifling a yawn.
Katara gaped at the flame in Zuko's palm. If Zuko's bending was back to normal, did that mean hers was? With a wave of her arm, she pulled the dew from the grass to her hand. Soon her astonished gaze moved to a grin to match Zuko's.
"We're back!" she cheered before dropping the water and tackling Zuko in a hug.
"Woohoo," Toph deadpanned. "Couldn't it have waited for a more reasonable hour?"
"This is great news!" Aang said, bending himself to land next to where Katara was practically sitting in Zuko's lap. "See, whatever lesson the spirits wanted you to learn, you learned!" He paused and frowned at them. "What was the lesson, anyway?"
"Uh, just that we shouldn't judge people by the actions of others, especially if they come from similar circumstances," Katara answered. She glanced at Zuko to double check and he shrugged. "Or something like that."
"Oh, well that's good," Aang said. "I guess this means it's back to just me and Katara for waterbending training though."
"I'm not going to miss it," Zuko announced.
"Well I'm not going to miss firebending training," Katara shot back, but her grin never budged.
"Yay, everyone's back to normal but that ignores one crucial detail," Sokka said as he stretched his limbs. "What are Zuko and Iroh going to do now?"
Zuko looked gobsmacked. His immediate thoughts over the past two weeks had been learning how to control his new bending abilities so he didn't accidentally hurt himself or someone else. What it would mean to get his firebending back had never occurred to him.
"That is a very good question, Sokka," Iroh said, walking up to the group. His face was neutral, in no way hinting as to what he thought he and Zuko should do. "It's time for you to answer this very important question, Prince Zuko. Who are you, and what do you want?"
"I…hadn't thought about it," Zuko answered, a knot forming in his gut. Just last night Katara had declared him her best friend. There was also no doubt that he considered the rest of the group his friends. He had friends, and a clearer insight into effect the Fire Nation's policies had on the world. They weren't spreading their knowledge and insight, they were aiming to subjugate. This was no mission of altruism, only personal glory and greed. The Fire Nation had lost its honor, and it would never get it back unless something changed.
Unless his father and sister were stopped.
"Did it ever occur to you that the reason you were miserable was because you were trying too hard to be someone other than yourself?"
Katara's words echoed in his mind. The years of anger, frustration, and misery made sense now. Rather than futile dread he felt peaceful. Azula would never look at him as anything but a scapegoat for the rare occasions she miscalculated. Ozai could only see failure.
Zuko looked at them and saw their dishonor.
"I thought that my father had taken my honor," he said slowly, "but I see now that it was never his to take. My honor was dependent upon my actions. I behaved honorably and they saw that as dishonor. They've taken a once great country and turned into a machine of misery and hate. There is no honor in the Fire Nation anymore, but there could be once again." He looked at Aang and swallowed, knowing he was making the right choice but still doubting it. "Fire Lord Ozai and Princess Azula must be stopped. They only care about their own power and glory. There's no consideration about anyone who may be trampled in the process. It has to change. It's the only way for the war to stop and for things to move forward."
He looked over his shoulder at his uncle, unsure of what he would see. Too many years of abuse at the hands of his father left him uncertain in such circumstances, but he did not see anger or disappointment in Iroh's face. Tears were streaming down the older man's face, and Katara gracefully scooted out of Zuko's lap in time for Iroh to fall to his knees before his nephew and pull the confused teen into a tight hug.
"I am so proud of you, Prince Zuko," Iroh said, clutching the boy tightly. "You are realizing your destiny, the role you will play in ending this atrocity of a war."
"Uncle, I…" But the words wouldn't come. The knot in his throat was too big and as it was Zuko had never been too good with words. Instead he held his uncle back and hoped beyond hope that things would finally start going his way.
"Group hug!" Aang announced and soon Iroh and Zuko were joined by Team Avatar. Aang and Katara worked their way between Zuko and Iroh, while Toph climbed onto Zuko's back, her arms draped around his neck. Sokka found himself behind Iroh.
"I…is this what having friends is like?" Zuko asked.
Katara chuckled as everyone else looked at him in shock. "You'll definitely have to get used to this. We're huggers."
"Oh, well," Zuko said, his face lighting up in a fierce blush, "I suppose I could get used to it."
"This is gonna be fun," Toph said, a gleeful smile on her face.
Zuko caught Katara's eye, his face comically morphing into panic and she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. Fun indeed.
So I might have a follow up to this. We'll see if I actually write it though.