The next couple days passed in a blur. Both Aang and Katara were able to communicate much easier, as if some invisible wall had been pulled up after Katara's breakdown. It saddened Katara to think that every day led closer to her departure, but she tried to keep her mind on the prospect of a visit to Ba Sing Se with Aang. The Avatar's advice had also given her new hope that she could fix her relationship with Zuko.
Although Katara was excited by the idea of returning to her beloved husband, she had begun questioning herself. She wondered why she had been so eager to come straight to Aang. She could have visited Sokka, Suki or Toph. She could have gone to any of her friends around the world, but she immediately sought out Aang, and the thought that Aang had been wondering the same thing worried her. She loved Zuko, but she had to admit that their relationship had been built around passion. They had been very happy together in the beginning, but the stress Zuko endured as Firelord had in turn put a stress on their marriage. However, despite this, Katara was hopeful that they could work things out and return to the way it had been. After all, Aang had shown her a first-hand account of how possible miracles could be.
They set off for Ba Sing Se early in the morning, just as the sun had begun to rise. As they flew gracefully through the air, Katara stared at the rising sun in a captivated trance, feeling its heat on her skin. The heat reminded her of Zuko, when they had first begun seeing each other. How he had held her close, his fingers warming and relaxing her body. She thought, with an embarrassed smile, about the first time they made love. She had been so enveloped in the heated passion they had shared, his raging heat burning over her like a flame, and her own cool, controlled composure crashing against him like a wave. She shook off the thought, reminding herself sadly that things were different now.
Throughout much of the flight, Katara found herself looking up at the clear blue sky in a daze, the cool wind licking comfortably at her face. She had forgotten how much she loved riding on Appa. The enjoyment of being so high in the sky, so far from the world and its troubles, filled Katara with a free and carefree peace. She guessed that this was how it felt to be an airbender.
Aang looked back at her occasionally, but her expression of pure joy and calmness was too precious for him to ruin with conversation. Instead, he turned to his thoughts. He wondered mostly why Katara had come to see him. Although he was overjoyed to see her again, after more than six years of being apart, he questioned her motives for seeking him out when he had made such an effort to stay away from her. In retrospect he suspected that he had made a bad choice cutting her off like he did. He hadn't wanted to ignore her completely, but leaving her after such a happy relationship had been too hard for him, and the idea of seeing her again nearly made him ache. However, he knew that he had made the right choice. She wouldn't have been happy living in the demanding and lonely life that was being the Avatar. "She's not happy as it is," he reasoned. He ignored the thought. "We weren't meant to be," he decided sadly. A mix of his own obligations to his people and his culture, as well as his stressful life as the Avatar, did not bode well with the idea of a relationship.
"There it is. Ba Sing Se," he stated, rousing both of the from their musings. They arrived to a royal greeting. A representative of Kuei, along with a dozen royal guards, stood poised to welcome his arrival.
"Avatar Aang," the representative boomed loudly as they touched to the ground, "It's good to see you in Ba Sing Se again. I'm afraid the king is not ready to see you, we were expecting you later."
"That's alright," Aang assured kindly, "my friend and I were hoping to see a bit of the city anyways." He jumped down from Appa's head gracefully, and proceeded to help Katara climb down as well. The representative raised his eyebrows slightly at the sight of her.
"Lady Katara, what a surprise! We weren't expecting the wife of the Firelord today. I hope everything is fine in the Fire Nation?"
"Everything is fine. The Fire Nation is flourishing through our mutual alliance and trade. I'm simply here on a visit with the Avatar," she informed him with a smile. Aang was shocked to see how good Katara had become at commanding her presence as royalty.
"So what should we do?" Katara asked excitedly when they were alone.
"I was thinking we could grab a cup of tea at Iroh's shop and catch up a bit with him," Aang suggested. Katara nodded with a smile, and they walked through the crowded streets of the city to the Jasmine Dragon. They found the place extremely busy as usual, but upon seeing Aang and Katara, Iroh excitedly ushered them into a more secluded room on the second floor of his shop.
Aang! And Katara! It's great to see you both! How are you?" Iroh asked while pouring cups of steaming tea for them.
"We're fine, it's great to see you too Iroh," Aang took his own cup, and upon drinking, he was reminded why the called Iroh 'the best teamaker in Ba Sing Se'.
"That's great! How is my nephew Katara? Is the job of Firelord getting to him yet?" he joked.
Aang looked uncomfortably at Katara. He leaned over to Iroh, doing his best to be discrete. "Things are difficult right now for Katara and Zuko. I don't think she wants to talk about it."
Katara heard him easily. "Aang, it's okay. He... He's fine Iroh. Just a little stressed right now, I think." She looked down at her cup of tea sadly.
Iroh looked between the two of them, curious as to why they were keeping so secretive. "What's wrong Katara?" he asked worriedly.
"I just don't think Zuko wants to see me very much right now. He was furious the last time we talked, and... well Aang's right, it's difficult between us right now."
Iroh chuckled to himself. "Katara, I know my nephew can be hotheaded at times, but I think you simply caught him on a bad day. I'm sure he loves you as much as he always has." He nonchalantly took a sip of tea. "If he didn't, why would he send you away?" he asked, smiling at her.
Katara felt as if she had been slapped in the face. With a snort of disgust, she pushed herself furiously to her feet and stormed from the room. Aang looked in shock at Iroh. "Wait, that came out wrong..." Iroh stated lamely.
"Uhh, sorry about all this Iroh, it was great to see you!" Aang called as he bolted out the door after Katara.
He found her outside, walking away angrily in no particular direction.
"Katara, wait. Stop this. I think you're taking this all a little too seriously. You know Iroh didn't mean that."
"I don't care! He could have been a little more sensitive about it!" she shouted angrily. "I mean, he should know it's hard for me right now!"
"Katara, I'm really sorry things are going badly right now, but you really need to calm down," he told her soothingly, trying to calm her from her rage.
"Aang, you have no idea what everything is like right now! You have no idea what my life has been like! It's always suffering, always loss, and I can't stand it anymore!" she ranted on. "You have no clue what it's like to suffer like that!" However, just as those words left her mouth, she realized she had gone too far.
Aang stared at her and laughed, but in a bitter and furious tone she had never heard out of him. "I have no idea? Really Katara? Do you have any idea what it's like to fall asleep one day, and wake up the next morning to find out everyone you knew had died? Everyone you loved, everyone you cared about, gone! Do you have any fathom what it's like to feel loss of that scale? Don't you ever say I don't understand suffering! You're not the only one that's suffered in their life. Most people have it a lot worse than either of us can imagine, but they don't carry their problems around and wallow in self-pity like you do!" A large crowd of people had stopped to watch their argument, but Aang didn't care. He was too furious to think about anything.
Katara stared blankly, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She had never seen Aang so angry before, and all she could think was that she had caused it. "Aang..." she whispered, "Aang, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me."
Her pleads fell on deaf ears, Aang was already walking away.
"Aang!" she called after him, wanting nothing more than to take the whole argument back. Nothing more than to grab him and hug him and absorb his pain, his rage.
"You can find a ship to the Fire Nation on the coast. Goodbye Katara," he called back without any emotion.
"No, no please no," she slumped to the ground and cried.
Several days later, Katara arrived at the Fire Nation capitol city. The guards issued her into the palace respectfully, though she could see some of them were surprised, even unnerved, by her return. She dismissed the feeling.
"The Firelord is in the middle of an important meeting, my lady," one guard informed her.
"That is quite alright, I'm his wife, it shouldn't bother him to see me." The guard looked as if he wanted to stop her, but allowed her to enter the royal court. Upon entering, she saw a sight that both shocked and outraged her. Zuko was sitting on the ground with Mai, the two of them laughing. Zuko's arm was wrapped around Mai's shoulder, and they were holding hands. Katara stood still in shock, making it several moments before Zuko realized that she had entered the room. He jumped to his feet quickly, looking extremely embarrased.
"Katara! I wasn't expecting you home so soon. I sent you a letter, I assume you didn't get it," he deduced from her furious expression.
"A letter? Was that how you were going to leave me? A letter!" she yelled in outrage.
"If it makes you feel any better, he did the same thing to me one time," Mai informed dryly.
"No Mai, it doesn't make me feel better. But thank you," she added with obvious sarcasm. "I can't believe you Zuko..." tears began in her eyes, a feeling that was all too familiar to her. Zuko started over to her, his hand outreached.
"Don't touch me," she said coldly. "Don't you dare. I can't believe you would do this to me, your wife! I hate you Zuko." With that she turned and marched out of the room. She felt his hand grab her arm. She bended a whip of water from a nearby fountain, slapping him across the face with it, producing a loud crack.
"We're through Zuko. It's over." She left without a single glance back.