That day they decided to eat outside by a campfire, just because it seemed like a fun thing to do and because it was still hot – they didn't expect the weather to cool any time soon. Katara was kneeling beside the yet unlit bonfire and trying to create fire with what means she could.

She had learned the art of fire-making very early on in her life. She, like all women in her tribe, had been taught all kinds of useful household things and Katara had of course learned a lot. After her mother's death she had been practically forced to learn, and she never minded it, because she had wanted to prove herself to dad and Sokka – and she had always wanted mother to be proud of her. And so she had tried her best and got good at it.

Still, after all those years, fire was her least favourite thing in house making. She could do it – she always carried her flint and tinder with her – but striking the first spark made her uncomfortable. One of the things she had learned when she was just a little girl was that fire hurts and is not to be played with. And, like so many children, she had learned it the hard way. The stove had been hot. And she had been curious. The flames had looked so pretty as they had danced under the kettle. But they had hurt her, and they had made her cry, and she had avoided open fire ever since, if possible.

Katara managed to strike a little, lively flame just as Zuko and Aang came outside carrying the dishes. She started slightly when the flame shot up from the wood – not much, but enough for someone to observe her reaction.

"You know, I am a firebender", Zuko reminded nonchalantly as the put the plates down beside Katara. "I can create fire practically without effort. Just so you know."

"Me too", Aang said and sat down, smiling. "You should ask me light the fire next time, you don't need to use those anymore."

"Thanks, Aang", Katara sighed, "but I'm used to these. I can do it myself."

Zuko shrugged but Aang looked at her with a concerned frown.

"You should let us help once in a while", the Avatar said quietly and tentatively. Katara had been very quick to anger lately.

"Look, it's not a big deal", Katara said as she bended water into a kettle. "But if you want, you can light the fire when we need it next time, OK?" Aang smiled and nodded as Sokka, Suki and Toph returned from the market, carrying various food items Katara had told them to find.

"Twinkletoes, now's a good time to practice a bit, don't you think?" Toph said and crossed her arms. "You've tried to avoid earthbending, don't think I haven't noticed! Now get off your butt and start hurling rocks at me!"

Aang sighed and got up, casting a longing look at Katara, who was busy adding ingredients to the kettle and looking adorable with her serious lady-of-the-house look on her face. She told the others to help her by slicing and cutting and washing and cleaning vegetables while she begun roasting the fish. She couldn't make fish soup because Aang didn't eat meat – that's why she made vegetable stew and fish as an extra for the rest of them. While Toph was shouting at Aang during training the stew was cooking up nicely. Katara was bending the liquid and the rest began to feel hungry as the lovely scent of the food drifted up their nostrils. Nobody had to be told twice when she announced the dinner was ready.

After they had eaten they loitered around the dying fire and mostly complained about the weather. Katara and Aang were washing the dishes with their waterbending skills – Katara said it counted as training for him – Toph was laying on her back and breathing steadily, Zuko had wandered further away and Suki and Sokka were trying to shield themselves from the last rays of the setting sun.

"Why is it so hot in here?" Sokka moaned and fell on his back. Suki was sitting next to him and looking at him, bemused.

"Well, we're in the Fire Nation, for starters", she said, smiling. "You really didn't expect them to live somewhere cold?"

"Or it might have something to do with a giant evil comet speeding towards us as we speak", Toph noted in her blunt manner. Aang stopped his washing and looked at the sky, worried. Katara looked at him and then turned to Toph.

"The climate is hot in here, you're just not used to it. None of us is used to this kind of heat, that's why it feels so hot." Katara finished her sentence as if everything was now settled. Sokka groaned and tried to cool himself by waving a big leaf above his face.

"Well, the Fire Nation Boy should be used to it", Toph said and waved her hand a bit. "Ask him if it's supposed to be this sweaty."

"Yeah", Sokka said and sat up, looking positively suffocated from the heat. "Where is he, though?"

They all looked around, save for Toph, but couldn't see him anywhere. Katara got up.

"I'll go find him", she said and shook the dirt off her hem. "We need to get all this stuff inside anyway, he should help and not wander off."

Aang looked at her with a strange expression. She looked at him.

"Aang, I won't be gone long but when I'm not here, I want you to waterbend these plates clean – but don't do it the easy way! Use different techniques. Small things like these can make all the difference when it's time to bend for real."

"Okay", Aang said and watched Katara walk down the path with a concerned frown nobody noticed.

"You might want to try near the beach", Toph called after her.

Katara followed Toph's advice and found her to be right. She saw Zuko standing by the trees, looking at the red evening sky over the sea. He didn't turn to look at her even when she came close and spoke to him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked and walked beside him. "We're going to start cleaning up and we could use your help, too."

Zuko stared at the beach and sighed.

"Sorry", he said and tried to smile a little. "I was lost in thought." Katara looked at him and thought she understood.

"It must be weird for you to be back here after all that time", she said compassionately.

"Well", Zuko said and cleared his throat a little. "Actually it's not that long... We – me and my sister and her friends – were here not long before I left home and came to find you."

Katara raised her brows. "Oh?"

"Yeah", Zuko said and lowered his eyes and observed the grass at his feet. "But the last time I had fun in here... it seems like in another lifetime."

"I'm sorry", Katara said quietly and touched his arm very lightly.

"For what?" Zuko said abruptly and turned to look at her, and Katara was startled to see his eyes blazing for a reason unknown to her – and just like before when she had struck fire, she started and let her hand fall. And, like before, this was not left unnoticed.

"I..." Katara said and looked almost alarmed, lost, afraid. "I'm sorry that... your family isn't... with you anymore." It was a stupid thing to say and she knew it. It sounded so silly and Katara felt like an idiot. She blushed and cowered a little before Zuko's burning gaze. Then the prince's expression changed and he sighed resignedly. He had seen the fear in her eyes and he examined her face carefully. He squinted very slightly and held Katara's gaze.

"Do you fear fire, Katara?" Zuko asked all of a sudden and saw the surprise in Katara's eyes.

"I..." she began, not sure what to say – his amber eyes seemed to reveal nothing of his mind but they could almost see into her thoughts. "No", she finished and turned her gaze away. Zuko raised an eyebrow and Katara blushed a little. She felt like she should have thought a bit more about her answer.

"Well..." Katara continued. "I... maybe a little. I mean", she sighed and didn't look at him, "it's my opposing element, I'm not very comfortable with it because I know... that fire can hurt."

"I know", Zuko said and let his eyes sweep the ocean surface. Katara glanced at him.

"You're right to be afraid", the prince continued, not looking at her. Katara expected him to keep on talking, but he fell silent and got lost in his thoughts for a while. She looked at him and his scar, and wondered how much it must have hurt – she knew the pain a burn caused, but such an intense burn on such a delicate area...

"I've learned, though", Katara said after a moment, "that fire is something we all need, and although I've been taught to fear it and avoid it I... I've also seen beauty in it." She blushed as she remembered Zuko's lone battle moves in the middle of the night.

He turned his eyes on her and she saw a mixture of disbelief, surprise, and even hope, on his face. She smiled, a gentle blush lingering on her cheeks.

"It's what keeps us warm, isn't it?" she said quietly and couldn't meet his eyes. "And what brings light in the dark."

Zuko stared at her for a while and then his expression melted into a smile she didn't see.

"You said you needed help cleaning up", Zuko said after a long moment of silence and strange warmth. Katara seemed to wake from a dream.

"Yes", she said and gathered herself. "And the others have questions about the climate..." He raised his brow and followed her back along the path.

"Relax, they're back", Toph said to Aang, who was pacing nervously to and fro. Ever since the play he had been oddly persistent in not letting Katara and Zuko have too much time alone with each other. He knew he was being silly, it had been just a play and surely Katara had never... but still. It had given Aang all kinds of strange thoughts and he had noticed becoming a little jealous. He wasn't proud of it and he knew it was stupid and very much un-Avatar like, but he couldn't help it. And for that he felt guilty. Toph's words made him literally jump.

"What?" Aang exclaimed and looked at her, bewildered, then trying to look nonchalant and at ease and failing in the process. "What are you talking about? I'm relaxed, I'm not worrying about... KATARA!" he saw her coming into the glade, followed by Zuko. "I washed the plates just like you told me to, Sokka can prove my words..."

"Yeah, yeah", said Sokka and sat up as Aang was dragging Katara to the plates by the hand. Sokka looked at the prince.

"Hey, Zuko, we were wondering... Is it always this hot in here, or is this just some kind of pre-stage before the comet burns us all into ashes?"

"It's always warm this time of the year", Zuko said. "Maybe the comet has something to do with this, but it's pretty much just as hot as it usually is."

"Huh", Sokka said and Toph stretched herself on the grass.

"The comet must be pretty darn hot, then", she said.

All the talk about the dooming comet made Aang look very worried and Katara noticed it. She soon told everyone to clean up so that they could all get some sleep. She was the last one by the fire – it was her job to quench the flames, or at that point, the embers. She bended some water out of a bucket and when she was ready to let it fall on the glowing embers she halted. She looked at the red glow and the tiny sparks still dancing deep in the fire remains and she was sure Zuko's eyes had reflected the same calm, warm, steady glow earlier. For a moment she was completely lost in the world of fire that took over her whole vision. Then voices from inside the house called her back and she shook her head and let the water fall.

The quiet sizzling of the dying fire followed her inside and the smoke lingered in her hair.