The gang followed Zuko down one of the many wings of the grand palace, showing them to their guest rooms. As they disappeared into their designated rooms, it was eventually just him and Katara as he brought her to the last room.
He pulled open the door for her, then followed her into the guest room. It was small, for what the firebender was now used to anyway, but it was nice nonetheless.
Besides, if she wanted to sleep in a much more impressive bed, she could always…
He shook his head, forcing the thoughts out. It was not the time to be thinking like that, not when she was so struck with sorrow.
But what could he do? Would his affection help, or drive her away? He was too unsure, and he didn't want to make a fool of himself.
Or break his own heart.
"Zuko."
The firebender's eyes shot up at the word, seeking out the girl, hoping to see the girl he'd come to know, and…
"Thank you." she said simply, as she turned around, expecting him to leave.
"...Katara," he started. The waterbender turned around again to face him, but words failed him as he was met with her vivid blue eyes. Oh, those eyes…
Seeing that she was waiting for him to continue, he walked towards her, clearing his throat.
"I just...wanted to give you my condolences," he said, his voice as small as he felt, staring into her. "I...you...you didn't deserve it. Just like you didn't deserve it the first time."
She looked into him, cocking her head slightly, taking in his words. She sighed, and stepped closer to him. Her face was still stoic, but there was a bit more shine in her eyes than the last time Zuko looked at her.
She nodded, grasping his arm, offering him a small smile.
"Thank you."
break
If Zuko hadn't been facing the Water Tribe warrior, he wouldn't have guessed it was Sokka. Just like his letter, just like his greeting, Sokka's speech was so still and formal, a characteristic that was only used by the warrior in high stakes and serious situations.
This happened to be both of those.
The fire blistered around Zuko in his throne room; over the top of the licking flames his table of advisors sat before him, all with skeptical looks across their faces. Yet some seemed rather worried, while others seemed bored and annoyed. The Fire Lord narrowed his eyes, as the Chieftain continued his monologue.
"I'm not looking for a war, as I have already told the Fire Lord in my request for this meeting. My nation has been far too war stricken, nearly knocked off its feet by the Hundred Year's
War. However, my tribesmen and I cannot look past the fact that the attack on...my father was an attack by a clan of firebenders."
"How are we supposed to know this isn't a setup?" one of the advisors sneered, this one being Wan Jou. Wan Jou had said he trusted Zuko as he had Ozai, but Zuko knew he'd always been skeptical of the new Fire Lord's practices ever since he ordered an immediate end to the war.
Sokka turned towards the voice, glaring. "What reason would I have to fake my father's murder?"
Wan Jou shrugged, sneering as he met Sokka's stare. "Oh, I dunno. A hundred years of animosity towards my nation? A desire to get the Fire Nation caught up in a pointless goose chase just because some kid has daddy issues?"
"Enough!" Zuko bellowed, the flames climbing higher, "You have no right to disrespect my guest, one that has made no enemy of you, or anyone here."
The advisor gave the Fire Lord a hard stare, hesitated, but eventually bowed his head. "My apologies, your Majesty...Chief Sokka." he muttered as an afterthought.
Sokka looked toward the Fire Lord, eyebrows raised, but Zuko just nodded for him to continue.
"As I was saying. My father was undoubtedly murdered by firebenders, that much is clear. But as for their motives, I can't say I know exactly what they are..."
"A troop of rebels?" one of the advisors asked but the warrior simply shook his head.
"I thought that too, but the thing was, Hakoda was the only one who was aimed for. Some of my other men were hurt, but only because they were trying to protect their chief. Once he was...done for, the firebenders left as quickly as they came.
"I've come to get answers, but also to ask for assistance. I need to track these men down. I need to find them, not just for personal reasons, but from what my men told me, they're immensely powerful benders, and need to be stopped."
The room broke into low mutters and whispers. Zuko took the moment to look over at the waterbender, who'd been so quiet and still throughout her brother's speech, that the Fire Lord almost forgot she was in the room. Almost.
He cocked his head slightly at her, but there was nothing to read. Her face was more plain and stone like than he'd ever seen it before, and it was so...odd. It made his chest sag.
Finally, one of Zuko's men spoke up. "If your goal was to go after these criminals yourself, why bring the Fire Nation into it?"
"Well," the Chief began, "I've come also to warn the Fire Lord and his nation about the strike. If there's one thing I've learned from my dad and my travels, it's that these things usually start from higher up, but also I need to -"
"So now you're accusing the Fire Nation as a whole to be responsible?"
"I'm not saying that!" Sokka growled, then took a minute to compose himself, running his hand through his wolf tail. "But, my biggest concern is that I'll need the assistance of the Fire Nation and some of it's soldiers to help find these criminals, for-"
"Why? Suddenly your water people aren't good enough for you? You wanted some real
men to come along and -"
"Wan Jou!" Zuko roared, his eyes seething as he bore into the shocked advisor, though not shocked enough to wipe the smirk off of his face. Eventually Wan Jou gave into the Fire Lord's fierce yellow eyes, backing down.
"All I'm saying," Sokka started again, his voice dripping with exasperation, "is that if a group of water tribesmen go around hunting down a group of Fire Nation men, criminals or not, I think it'd raise too much war sentiments, and only lead to further rebellions."
Zuko raised his eyebrows at this, for it was a point he'd never actually thought of, and it was a very valid one. However, before he could open his mouth to speak, an advisor beat him to it, the one on Wan Jou's right.
"I, for one, refuse to take part in some sort of pointless chase, just to take down one of my own who we have no real proof of being criminals, and I'm sure many of my men would agree!"
There were murmurs of agreement among the men, which only lead for Sokka's scowl to twist into one of anger, and before Zuko could force his men to shut up, a new voice spoke, one far too sweet to be coated in such anger.
"If you're not going to help me find my father's killers, I'll find them myself. And I'll kill them. Myself." Katara's voice shook as she rose. Her enraged body turned towards Zuko, brow raised as his eye's met the raging seas in her's. "I'll accept whatever punishment you see fit, Fire Lord Zuko. I'll rest well in the life after this knowing my father was avenged."
With that, Zuko watched with an open mouth and wide eyes as the waterbender turned around on her heel, and simply walked out the door.
She thought he was going to kill her. She thought he was actually going to have her murdered if she managed to avenge her father.
Zuko didn't notice the room erupt into chaos, insults being slurred at the water tribe warrior, who only proceed to retaliate with his own foul tongue. He didn't notice how long the arguing went on until he snapped out of his daze, and scowled across the room of his jeering advisors.
Standing up, he parted the fire, walking across the grand throne room. The meeting was over, he muttered hurriedly. He'd have another one to further discuss the course of actions later, he said. Swiftly, he made his way out the grand door, rounding a corner as he headed toward the guest wing. He didn't pay any mind to the wide eyes and fearful looks his servants were throwing at him; his mind was full with a flurry of thoughts and strange, new emotions.
Once he made it to Katara's guest room, he stopped suddenly, the thoughts of busting down her door and telling her how he actually felt flooded out of his body. His hand faltered on the knob, until he withdrew it completely, choosing instead to bury his head in his palms. It wasn't right, this wasn't right. If there's one thing he'd learned from traveling with Katara all those years ago, was that she didn't like being followed when she was angry. He needed to let her cool off, as to not let his own temper meet hers.
Slowly, the firebender backed away from the door, and once again rushed through the halls, making his way to his study. Once he'd entered the room, Zuko collapsed into his chair with a heaving sigh. He didn't need this. He didn't need a group of rebels sailing around the seas. He didn't need his untrusting advisors to belittle the new Chief of the Southern Water Tribe.
And he didn't need Katara to think he was a murderer. That, more than anything he didn't need.
But that wasn't entirely true, now was it? If he so happened to go with Katara to find the murderers, he wouldn't hesitate to take their lives if that's what Katara wished. Did she really think now that Zuko was in a position of high power, that he would suddenly become so ruthless? So ruthless, almost like...
No. Katara wouldn't think of him like that. She knew him, she knew the man he'd become was anything but the man his father was.
But could he say she felt the same for the rest of the Fire Nation? The waterbender was the most compassionate person Zuko had ever met, but even her kindness had a limit. She never forgave Yon Rha. She'd taken so long to forgive Zuko. Would she forgive him again, if she even was mad at him?
Zuko had to convince her he wasn't out to get her, he was on her side. He wasn't siding with his advisors, not on this grave of an issue. He would prove to her once again that he was the man he said he was, the man he was after the Day of Black Sun. He would show her, and do whatever it took to win her back.
The taste of her friendship he'd gotten over the past 3 years was too delicious. He needed it, he craved it. And he'd do anything to keep it. Even if it meant spilling blood. He would do it, he'd do it for her, and so, so much more.
The rest of the day passed at a crippling slow pace. The Fire Lord's paperwork seemed more tedious than usual, a rather amazing feat truth be told. It was mostly economic issues he had to deal with, new trade routes still prone to bruising, demilitarizing the colonies and other more remote parts of the Fire Nation. While his nation had certainly been making significant progress, things seemed to be falling back ever so slightly, but enough to notice. While the trade with the Earth Kingdom was regulated by the Earth King, some villages and towns had been purposefully, it seemed, only producing enough goods for their own people and those of other Earth Kingdom towns. It made Zuko worry, worry that the peace that he'd formed was wearing too rough around the edges, that there was more going on than he was aware of. That maybe there were more to these men who'd taken the old Chief's life than he'd thought.
But he was getting ahead of himself, Zuko thought, as he sat down for dinner with his guests. He was so deep in thought, a worrisome look cast over his tired face, that he hadn't even glanced around the table at his guests. His friends.
Sokka was muttering quietly to Suki, who was leaning into him as she rubbed his shoulder. (Sokka's plate was already empty, something the Fire Lord remarked with a bit of warmth, a sign of the Sokka he knew). Aang was chatting up Toph, who would then turn to give a snickering remark about something to his uncle, who would offer up a boastful laugh. He turned back to his food, and noodles were up to his mouth when an alarm rang through his head.
"Where's Katara?!" Zuko shot up, shaking the table with his jerky movements. Everyone at the table froze mid sentence, shooting him a concerned glance. He was about to ask, when the Avatar spoke up.
"She's in her room. She said she wasn't hungry."
Zuko stared at him with wild eyes, but it was only when the monk cocked his head at him, squinting his eyes, that he realized what exactly he was doing. He was making a scene. A scene he really, really didn't want to make.
He sat back down with sigh, stirring his food, but his appetite was long gone. His chest swelled up as embarrassment stinged his cheeks. But then, as he pondered the Avatar's words, they grew hot with anger. The girl had gone to him, the kid, but not Zuko?
But, of course she had. They were together. Aang loved Katara, and Katara loved Aang. Was that not how it was? Was that not how they'd clearly laid it out to him after their kiss in Ba Sing Se?
Jealousy swirled into his chest, and with that, he couldn't take it. He'd dismissed himself, and practically ran down the halls, wanting nothing more than to lock himself up in his room.
And so he did. But it didn't last. After he'd sat on the edge of his bed for what seemed like an eternity, seething with too many emotions that he wasn't at all accustomed to, he'd made up his mind. He needed to go check on the waterbender. She needed to know that he wasn't out to get her, for it was the exact opposite! It would be like old times. He needed some old times, something to remind him of how they used to be, of that closeness they'd finally managed to form.
When he reached her door and he got no response from a knock, he gave a more forceful one, calling her name. And again. Finally, with an enraged fist he'd forced open the door, not caring if he'd gotten a scream from Katara. She couldn't avoid him forever.
But shortly, Zuko realized she wasn't there. And he also realized a window had been left wide open, curtains fluttering in the cool night breeze.
After he'd gotten over the shock and put the pieces together, he'd cursed at Agni as he ran back towards his own room, to retrieve some old friends.
break
The moon surged over Katara's head, it's white glow washing some of the black and blue out of the midnight sky. It wasn't quite full, but it didn't matter. Katara didn't need the full strength of Yue to feel the rush of power that pumped through her veins, her mind, her entire existence. She had 3 firebenders, an asshole of an advisor, a jerkbender, and a dead father to thank for that. She was strong, and she was going to use that strength.
As she sat crouched in the alleyway beside some sleazy tavern, she wasn't mourning over the loss of her father, nor her mother. She wasn't full of hope, full of compassion, full of fear. She was full of bloodlust.
It twisted inside of her, clawing at her innards and tearing at the nerves of her brain. But the dreadful feeling was much more muted than it was 3 years ago, 3 naive years ago. When she'd thought her dad would always be there, that he'd always come back every time he left.
But this time, he didn't come back. And he took her hope with him as he sputtered out her mom's name on his dying breath, nothing but a cruel reminder of how weak she'd been. Of how she couldn't protect her mother.
Rationally, she knew small child had no chance against a master firebender, and she'd be writing herself a death wish if she'd tried to interfere. Rationally, she knew she couldn't have saved her dad. There had been 5 strong waterbenders and a handful of warriors on that boat, but they still managed to be defeated. But Katara wasn't up for rational thinking, not tonight. Tonight, she needed to feel the power rush through herself and into others, taking what was theirs and making it her own.
She needed to be in control.
Finally, she heard it, the sound she'd been looking for. In this district of the capital city, crime was rampant, it was expected. And Katara had most definitely gotten was she came here for.
A woman's shrill scream cut through the air around her, distorted by what the waterbender inferred to be the firm hand of the man trying to have his way with her. Once Katara rushed down the dark alley, making a sharp left towards the scream, she'd found exactly that.
The waterbender swam in black, with only slits between the wrapping layers of cloth to allow her piercing eyes to shine through. But even the area around her eyes was caked in thick, brown dirt. The vermin of the streets didn't need to know who she was. It wasn't any of their fucking business.
Katara narrowed her eyes at the scene. A burly man, young looking with a sharp goatee and tresses of long black hair was pressing a small women against the wall, her eyes swelled with tears of fear and pain. The waterbender wanted to vomit.
As she stepped closer, the man turned his eyes from his prey to the woman standing before him, a slick smirk creeping across his face.
"Here to join the party?" he asked, voice oozing with overconfidence and stained with rice wine. The girl beneath him shuttered, but the waterbender only narrowed her eyes.
Water is everywhere
And that it was. She could feel it, throughout herself, in the trembling woman, in the vile excuse for a man. She could feel it, she could touch it, she could bend it.
The man only widened his smirk, but before he could spit anything else out from between his lips, Katara's arms shot up, fingers sprawled.
Water is everywhere
She half expected sharp images of Hama to show up, sending her into a fit of shaking tears. But it didn't happen. She felt only power. And she relished in it.
The man's eyes bulged, his arms releasing the woman as he began to flail wildly, a look of terror washing away his over confident sneer.
The woman he'd been forcing himself onto looked from her captor to the waterbender, eyes mixed with terror and relief.
"Go," Katara stated. And she went.
Turning back to the man, the waterbender sneered as he mustered out what were presumably supposed to be threats, but they came out laced with too much fear to sound as they should.
"Wh-what are you?! A fucking witch? Agni will damn you to hell!"
"I'm no witch. I'm just more powerful than you," Katara jeered. The man squinted at her as she felt the blood pumping erratically throughout his body, feeling it make it's way up his chest, and into his throat. She clenched her hands. He gasped.
"You're so used to being powerful, the one in control, the one seizing control. But you don't deserve it, you're less than a man, a waste of life, a mistake from Tui and La."
He was gasping now, sputtering out slurred pleads that Katara could barely made out. As she did, her smirk grew. She expected to feel something inside her snap, something to scream at her, something to give her a reason not to take him. But she got nothing. And she was about to tighten her hands.
But something caught her eye. Out of the corner of her eye, looming in the dim alley behind the struggling man, a figure clad in black stood. Katara looked closer, seeing that a blue demon mask donned his face.
The Blue Spirit.
She smiled a wild grin, and let go of the man as he crumpled to the floor in a gasping heap. She sauntered past him, closing in on the masked man.
"So, the Blue Spirit decided to pay me a visit. I'd thought after seeing all those wanted posters you'd finally been handed over for a hefty sack of gold pieces. Or you met your own demise. But I guess not."
The man said nothing. He only tilted his head slightly. This angered the waterbender.
"Too cocky for words, eh? Well I guess it's your lucky day. I'm after blood, and you ruined what I had going," Katara sneered, jerking her thumb to where the vile man laid before he stumbled away, seeing his escape. "But I hear you're a criminal. I guess you'll do."
Katara hesitated for a moment, the shock setting in that it was she who said these words, she who was threatening a man who may even be on her side. But her mind was too fueled with desperate emotions. She didn't care.
The man took a step back, but the moment his hand jerked up to reach for the broadswords he carried, she made her move. Water flew from her waterskin, guiding it in a firm sweep at the masked stranger. He was quick, leaping off his feet and off to the side to avoid the flow. But Katara expected this. She had pushed the water towards him and now she pulled, the water swelling around the figure. She weaved her arms; the flurry of water now circled around him. Before he could reach for the swords, she jerked her hands, and in an instant his back was frozen to the wall.
She snickered, approaching the man with wild eyes. She pulled down the black fabric that covered her mouth. She wanted him to see her smirk, to eat it up.
"I'm sure the Fire Lord would be eager to know who the Blue Spirit is."
But when she pulled off the mask, she figured the Fire Lord already had such info in his possession.
A pair of stoic yellow eyes met hers, the left surrounded by a patch of red, deformed skin.
She dropped the mask with a clatter, backing up as she stared at him, jaw slacked.
"I'm sure the Fire Lord would also appreciate his citizens not seeing him iced to a wall," Zuko muttered softly, but with an intense gaze shot at Katara.
She blinked, but once she regained control of her thoughts, she let the ice shift into water and flow back into her waterskin. Hastily, the Fire Lord reached for his mask in one hand and Katara's hand in the other as he dragged her down deeper into the alley.
Sinking against a wall, Zuko ran a hand through his hair. Katara opened her lips, but faltered, words escaping her as the reality of what she was doing, what she'd said to him, was brought to the forefront of her mind.
"What were you even doing?" he asked softly, averting her gaze.
She blinked. "I froze you to a wall."
Zuko gave a grunt, then found her blue eyes with his golden ones. "I meant the creepy voodoo thing, with that guy."
The waterbender scoffed. "You sound like my brother."
Zuko rolled his eyes, then looked back at her. His gaze was harder now, and she knew how serious he was being. And, she assumed, how shocked he must've been. At her.
"You did it before," the firebender continued, "when we thought we, uh, found...Yon Rha."
"It's called bloodbending."
This time it was he who blinked, his good eyebrow darting up his forehead.
"Bloodbending? Like you were controlling...his blood? How is that even possible?"
"Water is everywhere," she said simply, staring down at the cobblestone beneath her, "all life is full of water. The trees, the plants...you. I can control it. It's hard, and supposedly only done during a full moon, but…"
"You're powerful."
Her eyes shot up and met his, her face twisting. It was the word she'd repeated to herself over and over again, to justify what she'd done, to give reason to her actions. But when he said it, it didn't seep with sarcasm and satire. It didn't have that awful, lurching twist. When he said it, it sounded truthful, something to be desired. Not some out of control rampage.
She'd been out for blood. She'd been out for blood on some stranger, admittedly a vile waste of a stranger, but a stranger nonetheless.
She'd been after Zuko.
The thought of this smacked her across the face, cheeks stinging, eyes widening. She brought a shaking hand to her mouth. No tears came - they'd all dried up with her father's burns - but she let out a choked wail. She was becoming something she wasn't. And she didn't know how to stop herself.
It was nice, it was nice to feel, to feel alive, to feel...something. To have that rush, that bolt of adrenaline she hadn't felt in weeks. And she wanted it again.
But at the price of becoming...this? A woman too filled with bloodlust to even think. Only seeking power, seeking that surge of energy.
The waterbender didn't have an answer for that.
She hitched a breath when she felt a warm presence loom over her, then take her in. Katara buried her head into the crook of Zuko's neck as he cradled her shaking body.
She muttered apology after apology, and Zuko shushed her, Zuko comforted her, Zuko told her it wasn't her fault, this was normal, she was grieving. Katara forgot about how it was firebenders who murdered her dad, and how she thought that Zuko didn't want to help her find her dad. All she knew was Zuko's gentle breathing, the way he hot hand slid across her back, words soft against her ear.
For that moment, she felt like she was alive again.