A/N:- Again, I ownly own the poem.
Whilst at the village, Zuko and Sokka were the ones assigned to search the dead, for hopes of some money or valuables to keep going on. They knew it was cruel, and whilst this wasn't exactly respect for the dead (as Katara had pointed out with a look that said she was disgusted not only by the corpses, but also by what they were doing to them), it was needed to keep the alive alive (as Iroh had wisely stated.)
Searching the money pouch of an old childless woman (most of the women found were clutching infants) he found no money, but a crumpled piece of paper. Faintly curious, he carefully smoothed out the piece of paper. It held a poem, no doubt written by the old woman herself.
As he read the poem, he bit his lip. So this is what it was like for those who bore the brunt of the war. Ashamed of his ancestors and his father, he was about to put the paper back when a thought struck him. He carefully folded and pocketed the paper as he went to search the belongings of a hefty, pot-bellied man.
War
At first there were the blows of blades
Clashed against each other
While a women hid in shade
A lone and fearful mother
Then arose the sound of guns
Fired from afar
But she clutched on onto her son
Underneath the dying stars
And then she heard the fearful blast
And feared her husband dead
And she wondered of the past
While in her hands her head
Twenty years then came and went
And her son was twenty-one
Her life in misery and sorrow spent
And her son was given a gun
He said goodbye and went to fight
In a war that would never end
He left is mother alone that night
And for his country he would fend
Six months later a telegram came
"Your son died in the war"
And in her heart she felt a shame
Why or what did he die for?
She then realized that she had lived
A sad and wasted life
And to deny this was a fib
That nothing could end this strife
She missed her son and husband late
And thought of what they died to fend
Now she had nothing to do but wait
For her wasted life to end
And now he looked at Katara, who leaned against a tree, scribbling down something on a rough piece of parchment. That girl really had a huge heart. He chased her around the world; she offered to heal his scar. He betrayed her, and she convinced the others to give him another chance. Her naïveté would get her in serious trouble some day. And he would be right there to protect her.
He saw her wipe away her tears, and held back the urge to go to her side and comfort her, as she had done to him on countless occasions. He stared at he ground, thinking over what he should do. If he told her how he felt, then who said she would reciprocate his feelings?
Taking a deep breath, Zuko stepped out of the forest and sat down next to her. She raised her eyebrows in surprise, and tried to hide her puffy eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, he gave the paper to Katara, telling her how he found it.
He watched her as her eyes moved down the page, and how they filled with tears at the last lines.
Zuko panicked. He didn't mean to make her cry! He quickly put his arms around her and said, "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to- I just thought you'd appreciate-"
"No. Its ok," she said, cutting him of. "Thanks Zuko. I really did appreciate that."
And she hugged him back.
