Chapter Three
Katara watched the world, so far below where she and Zuko were flying on Appa, thinking of everything that had transpired the past several hours. She had finally confronted the man who had killed her mother… And she had let him go.
Sighing, she leaned back against the saddle and watched Zuko, grateful that he had come with her, even though she had hated him so passionately just a few days prior. "Something wrong?" he asked and turned to face her.
"No," she replied quickly. "I mean yes. I mean, I don't know. I just… Did I do the right thing?"
"I don't think I can answer that for you," he replied. "I think that's something only you can know."
She nodded and wrapped her arms around herself, once again turning to look at the sky surrounding them. An eternity seemed to have past before they landed. Zuko wrapped his arms around her waist and helped her down from Appa's back. She hesitated before stepping back. She had felt safe in his arms, like nothing could harm her, like he wouldn't let anything harm her.
She watched as his arms fell to his sides, and she pulled him into a tight hug. He tensed for a moment, but relaxed. "Thank you," she said again, her voice soft.
"Don't mention it," he shrugged, despite her grip on him.
She looked into his eyes, finally seeing him as a person and not as the monster she had previously believed him to be. He had changed since they had first met. She knew that, for if he hadn't, he wouldn't have been helping them to defeat the Fire Lord. But knowing and understanding had been two completely different things.
"What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing," she replied, and in a moment of bravery, kissed him, smiling when, after the initial shock, he kissed her back. A warmness flowed through her. She threaded her fingers through his hair, and moaned when he placed a firm hand on the small of her back.
Disappointment flooded through her when he stated to step back. "Katara," he started to say, but she kissed him again before he could continue.
He gently moved her to the ground, and she pulled him on top of her, wanting nothing but him, to feel him, to breathe him in. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and moaned when his hands found her hips, when his lips moved to her neck.
"I want you," she breathed and felt his smile against her skin.
It had been painful.
It had been wonderful.
And she wouldn't have traded it for anything.
Katara couldn't help but blame herself. If she had just been a better healer, if she had defeated Azula faster, if she had been helping him instead of standing aside and watching… No, she could not allow herself to think like that. No amount of thinking or willing was going to bring Zuko back, no matter how much she wished that it would.
She should have been happy. Aang defeated Ozai. The world was safe from the Fire Nation for the first time in over a century. Yet all she felt was anger, anger at Azula for taking Zuko from her, anger at herself for not being able to save him, even angry at Iroh and Aang for not sending someone else to fight the girl. She had finally come to trust Zuko, to love him. And he had been taken from her.
"Katara?" she heard a voice ask, but did not quite register it. She had left the others at the funeral site and gone off to a wooded area nearby, trying to find some tranquility on her own. "Hello? Katara?" she blinked and turned quickly, ready to snap at the intruder, to send them away so she could be alone with her grief, but sighed when she saw Aang standing before her.
"What do you want, Aang?" she asked, crossing her arms, putting her guard up. No one could know about her and Zuko, especially not Aang. Not when she knew he loved her. Not when the truth would break his heart.
"You left in a hurry," the airbender put a hand behind his head. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"I'm fine," she snapped, her tone harsher than she had intended it to be. She watched as he flinched and took a deep, shaky breath. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you."
"It's okay," he replied and moved closer to her. "You couldn't have done anything," he added, reaching up to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She thought about shrugging it off, but knew that he had meant well.
She studied her friend closely, finally realizing how much he had grown up in the past year. All of them had been forced to grow up throughout the past year. "You couldn't have done anything either," she said after a long moment.
"I could have fought Azula myself," he argued. "I could have insisted that Zuko's uncle do it…"
"It wouldn't have worked," she shook her head. "You had to focus your energy on fighting the Fire Lord. And Iroh wouldn't have fought her. It was meant to be him." She couldn't bring herself to say his name, not when everything was still so fresh in her mind, not when not an hour previously she had watched his body begin to turn to ash.
Aang nodded and stared at the ground. Not knowing what else to do, Katara pulled him into a hug. "It's going to be okay," she said, more for her sake than for his. "It's all going to be okay."
She spent the night in a tent with Gran Gran, and Master Pakku. The two elders had fallen asleep in each other's arms, no doubt content that the war had been won. Sokka had decided to stay with Suki, something their grandmother had been strongly against. "They're young," Pakku had responded. "They're in love. They just won a war. Let them spend their time together."
Sokka had placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm just a few feet away if you need me, okay?" he had asked softly, and, not for the first time, she felt incredibly grateful to have her older brother.
It was near dawn when she finally slept, and she had collapsed more from exhaustion than from any desire to venture to the land where she would no doubt relieve her memories of him.
