Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to Bryke and Nickelodeon, not me.

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"Fire Lord!"

It took him a moment to realize the servant was addressing him. He paused and turned around. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

The servant held out the scroll. "It's the list of those you wished to attend the meeting in your war room," he said.

"What's wrong with the list?" Zuko asked. The rules of the war room summons flashed through his head. For a moment he panicked. I've been Fire Lord for a week, and I've already screwed up.

"General Xiao thinks a name was added by mistake," the servant said. "Katara of the Water Tribe."

"That's not a mistake," Zuko said. "I asked her to come."

"But your lordship…a woman in the war room?" the servant questioned. "And a foreign woman at that."

"Being foreign shouldn't matter anymore," Zuko said. "And besides…she's one of the reasons I'm calling this meeting."

The servant bowed and closed the scroll. "General Xiao said he will refuse to attend if a fore…if Katara of the Water Tribe is present."

Zuko swallowed hard before responding. "Then you may tell General Xiao I can simply find someone else to take his seat for him," he said, sounding calmer than he felt. The servant bowed again and left.

The war room was filled with low chatter, but the men silenced in Zuko's presence. They regarded him coolly, a mere seventeen-year-old boy surrounded grown men. "Well," he said. His throat felt tight. "I suppose we should get started."

He sat down in his father's vacant chair. The grown men stared him down. The unfamiliar weight of the fire lord's crown-his father's crown- bore down heavily on his head. "This place has been known as the war room," Zuko said. His voice sounded thin and lost in the high-ceilinged room. He cleared his throat and continued. "There will be no discussion of war here. Our nation is at peace, and I intend for it to remain this way." He flexed his fingers under the table, forcing some of his tension away. "Rebuilding and creating stronger nations is the best way to honor the memory of the avatar." The distrustful, uncertain looks that flashed around the room were unmistakable. The tension raced back into his body. "I am nothing like my father. I have no intentions of raising the Fire Nation high above the others."

Soft footsteps echoed in the hall. Katara approached, her eyes bruised and solemn. Her long waving hair was bundled in a thick braid at the nape of her neck, and she wore a white dress. "I'm sorry I'm late," she murmured.

"Fire Lord Zuko, why have you asked this water tribe girl to come?" a middle-aged commander demanded. "Women have never entered this room, and certainly not a water tribe child."

Katara took a step back. Zuko held out his hand and beckoned her to come closer. "I want you to put a face to the nameless people my father tried to destroy," he said. The confidence he had not felt earlier seeped into his voice. Seeing Katara reminded him of the past months- the fighting, the desperation, and the friends still missing. She stood beside him, wavering but bright-eyed.

"I want you to be able to look at her as I begin to rebuild this world," he said. "She knew the avatar better than anyone else still living. I want her to speak for him."

She looked at him then, her gaze bright but broken. He smiled at her, just a little bit. Katara slipped into the vacant chair next to him and folded her hands in her lap. No one said a word.

Zuko glanced down at the floor and fumbled a long scroll. "My initial plan is to send ambassadors to key locations in the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation," he said. "From there we will move to more remote areas, and then to the North and South poles. After the reports have been brought in, we will develop a plan to return the displaced to their homes and revitalize these areas."

No one reacted. Zuko set the unrolled scroll down and picked up another one, fiddling with the dge. "This is a more personal matter," he said. He set his lips as his eyes caught the names. "I have written down the names of people who have fought long and hard for peace, and are still missing." He handed the list to Katara and nodded.

Katara took the scroll with trembling hands. She stood slowly. "Teo of the Southern Air Temple." Her voice was quiet. The stone faces of the generals didn't change as she read the names. "Haru of Maka Village. Outa, known as the Duke; Yuri, known as Smellerbee; and Shan, known as Longshot, all of Krae Village." She took a deep breath before proceeding. "Suki of Kyoshi Island. Lady Toph Bei Fong of Gaoling. Hakoda…" Katara's fingers tighten on the curl of the scroll. "Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe. And…" She closed her eyes, her body rigid. "And Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe."

With a crisp rustle Katara closed the scroll. The generals and commanders remained silent. "I know that under my father's leadership you devoted yourselves to overtaking these people," Zuko said, his heart beating fast and fervent against his ribcage. "But our nation will not live like that anymore. I will see our people is at peace " He glanced down at the list of names. "This is how we will begin."

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"Don't move."

He couldn't if he wanted to. Instead, he struggled to open his eyes. Once his stiff, heavy eyelids opened, he gazed dizzily at his surroundings. The room was small, painted a soft muted shade of golden brown. The window at his eye level looked out over a garden that was green and gold with late summer sunshine. He turned his head to get a better look.

Pain instantly radiated through his body. His head pounded, his arms throbbed, his legs ached. The stabbing feeling twisted through him.

Light cool hands touched his face. "You were in an accident." The girl's voice was as calm and gentle as her touch. "You've been here for a month, drifting in and out of consciousness."

He forced himself to focus and look at her. She was young, and rather pretty, but the terrible solemnity in her large gray eyes made her seem far away. The girl smoothed her hands on the skirt of her plain white dress, then draped a soft damp cloth against his forehead. The coolness eased the fire that arced through him.
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out but a dry rasping noise. The girl picked up a cup from the bedside table and held a piece of ice against his lips. The cold dripped down his throat.

"What's your name?" the girl asked.

He stared at her. "My name?" he said hoarsely.

-----

Sunlight streamed the window and forced her eyes to open. Katara rolled over onto her side. She lay there for a while, staring into the sun. I really should get up, she thought.

The door cracked open. She froze, trying to decide whether to feign sleep or sit up. Whoever it was set something heavy on the ground with a large thunk. She heard him mutter under his breath.

She sat up. "Don't worry, I'm awake," she said.

The door opened further and Zuko poked his head, smiling sheepishly as a child caught stealing a cookie. "I was wondering," he said. "You do realize it's almost one o'clock."

Katara pushed her hair away from her eyes. "I haven't slept that long, have I?" she objected. She looked out the window. The leaves, tinged red and gold, danced in the early afternoon sunlight. "Apparently I did."

"Are you sure you're doing all right?" Zuko asked. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, leaving a smudge of dust.

Katara rested her arms on her bent knees. "I can't stop thinking," she said. "All I can think about is the last times I saw them."

"Who?" Zuko asked.

"All of them," she said. "Toph. Suki. Sokka."

"Aang?" he said quietly. She rested her chin on her forearms and said nothing.

"I'm doing everything I can to find them," he said.

"That doesn't mean you'll find them alive," she countered. "I can't remember what I said to them. I can't remember what they said. I can't even remember if I hugged my brother goodbye."

"You can't dwell on it," Zuko said quietly. "You have to keep going, and hope they'll come back soon."

"But what if-"

"Don't think about it," he said. He picked up a box near the door and set it on the foot of her bed.

"What's that?" she asked.

"I had every scroll on healing culled from the royal library," Zuko said. Katara scooted towards it on her knees and rummaged through the rolls. "I thought that since you're a healer, this might distract you. It has everything. Broken bones, viral illness, midwifery- almost every topic you can think of."

"Thank you," she said, surprised.

"You're welcome," he started to say, but a tall dark figure materialized in the doorway.

"Zuko, what are you doing here?" Mai asked, her eyes narrowing.

"I brought Katara some scrolls to read," he said. "And I came to tell her that there's a meeting in the war room in two hours." He turned to Katara. "There's a meeting in the war room in two hours, by the way."

"Thanks," she said dryly.

"Well, your uncle is looking for you," Mai said. She glanced warily from Katara to Zuko. "I think it's important."

"I'll see you later," Zuko said. Katara nodded. Mai looked at her, her eyes cold and sharp, and closed the bedroom door.

Author's Notes:

This is another chapter that got a little more fleshed out. One reviewer, Templar of Honor, pointed out that Zuko was acting too old and too confident. I tried to incorporate that; I just don't know how successful I was...