Katara stared at Zuko with hard eyes, her arms crossed. He squirmed under her gaze. Good, he should be squirming. "What the hell was that?"
"Er...what? What-what was-what now?" He coughed into his fist and looked behind him to his right. Yawning, he scratched his head of long greying hair. He stood still, turned away from her, unacknowledging.
The sun had set and the blue shadows of twilight began to cover the Southern Water Tribe. Snow sat heavily on the land, unmoving but for the lightest that drifted along in the icy breeze. He had only visited twice before, once when he was searching for the Avatar. The lack of anything surprised him. One warrior-if Sokka could have been called that so early on-and the rest women and children. A handful of huts with fewer fires shared between them, and no trees in sight. He had wondered how a people could survive solely on animal flesh and scant amounts of shrubbery and roots, but as he had come to befriend the Water Tribe siblings, Zuko learned that they were survivalists to the core. Their passion and determination kept them warm, their loyalty and love were the reason they endured. It took the fiercest to live in such a harsh, unforgiving world. The last time was for Aang and Katara's wedding, forty years ago.
His chest constricted, and he blamed it on the cold. He pulled his coat tighter around himself and sent heat into his extremities.
She frowned, quietly pulling water from the ground, and froze his feet in place as he was about to leave. He turned his head, surprised. "What did you just do that for?" she demanded.
"I could ask you the same." He could have melted the ice, but he decided to let it stay. At least he couldn't run away, for the moment. He had run away from the truth for too long, and he didn't want to do it again. If he did, he might die with everything lost in confusion or unsaid.
"Zuko, I'm too old for this. If you have something to say, say it or leave it alone and let me go home." She recrossed her arms and watched him, waiting for a reply.
He bit his lower lip and fidgeted with his hands. Katara stared at them, wrinkling but still strong. She could see the beginnings of arthritis in his knuckles. When had they become so old? "Well, you see, the thing is...You remember the hundred year war?"
She returned to her cold demeanor, arched a brow. "Yes, we were there."
"It's just-I wanted to tell you but then you went off to see Aang and-"
"That was decades ago," she said, beginning to lose her patience. Something snapped within her. "Why are you bringing this up now? Why did you never say anything before? You think you can go off and marry Mai and raise her children, and once she and Aang are gone you can come to me for comfort because you had a crush on me when we were teenagers? Your chance is over, Zuko. I don't care about it anymore. I lost you before we even had a chance to be together. Aang died, Sokka died, Suki left to Kyoshi Island, and Toph is off on her own who knows where!" Her eyes were wide and fiery. It was like stepping back in time. She was always going to call people out. And now she was daring him to contradict her.
And he knew she was right. He sighed, let the ice melt around his feet, turned. Eyes closed, he breathed deeply through his nose. He let his head drop. What would Iroh say? "Katara."
"What?" Her voice cracked. Was it anger? Yes, but there was also...pain?
He looked to her. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, finding home in thin wrinkles. His face softened as he stepped towards her, wiping the tears from her eyes, leaving his hands on her face. He stared into her melting eyes. "I was afraid. I didn't want to hurt anyone." His brows pulled together and his eyes flashed. "You two seemed so happy. How was I supposed to stand up at your wedding and tell you I loved you? Aang loved you. Mai loved me. I had a duty to my people to marry and have an heir." His voice dropped to the barest whisper, "You were never going to leave Aang and live with me in the Fire Nation."
Katara broke from his hold, sobbing. She turned away and held herself before sitting in the snow and burying her face in her hands. As she struggled to breathe and calm herself, Zuko kneeled beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I was waiting for you that day. I waited so long. Why do you think the wedding started so late? I thought you were going to come back for me, tell me to marry you instead. But you didn't." Her tears came back to her, rolling through her body, until her chin shook from the sobs that ripped from her throat.
His stomach lurched. She'd been blushing and smiling innocently, embarrassed. It was obvious she was in love. She just had cold feet, right? He hadn't expected that it was him that she'd been in love with.
He moved so he was facing her, and sat in the snow. She cried for a long time, shaking with effort, as all her pain emptied through her eyes, into her hands. There was nothing for him to do. She needed to cry, and he wasn't going to tell her to stop. A few tears of his own began to fall, but he burned them from his face and tightened his throat. It was selfish of him to do this when she was in more pain. He sat back and watched her until he lost track of the time, watching her empty her heart into her hands. Snow was falling lightly. It sat in her hair and gathered in her lap. He admired her strength and vulnerability, something he hadn't been able to show simultaneously. The snow continued to fall and the breeze picked up. He knew she was used to the cold, but he was worried she would get pneumonia. "Katara," he said gently.
"What?" her voice cracked, only with pain, sadness.
"Can I walk you home?"
She took her hands from her face and looked up at him. His mouth was in a slight frown, eyes melting with tears, and his good ear was turning red. Was he getting too cold? He was a firebender, but she recalled when he got sick trying to keep himself warm in an icebox.
He looked down at his hands as his shoulders began to rise to his ears. She was going to tell him to go back to the Fire Nation and watch over his grandchildren. She was going to tell him that Firelord Izumi probably needed his counsel. She was going to tell him that he was a coward and a liar. She was going to tell him she had never had the same feelings.
Katara's hands rested on his shoulders now. He looked up at her and the tears raced down his cheeks. She smiled at him. "Yes. Please walk me home."