Secrets of the Past Revealed

A Hero Always comes Home

Katara stood there in shock. Was this the Zuko she had known? The one that had been so determined to join the Gang? Who had yelled that he wasn't that person anymore?

"Zuko don't say that."

"It's true."

"Zuko! Don't say that!" Zuko walked away. Katara stared after him. She heard muffled crying.

From Zoe's room. Katara breathed in and walked into Zoe's room. Zoe was covering her mouth. She was looking at a picture. It was a young girl. She looked like a younger version of Zoe except with tanner skin and her hair was a little bit lighter. Katara felt a surge of pity towards her.

"Zoe is that Hope?" Katara asked.

Zoe looked up.

Why is she in here?

"I don't even know you. All I know is that you're a waterbender and you can bloodbend. Why should I answer that?"

Katara can't believe Zoe had just said that. She calmed herself.

"I'm Katara from the Southern Water Tribe."

Back at the fire pit it was very quiet. Sokka broke the silence.



"How can she bend two elements?" Iroh sighed. All the kids were focused on him. They weren't going to let this drop.

"When Zoe was very young her parents died. She had a younger sister named Hope. Zoe prayed to the spirits that she would be able to protect her sister. She was 6. Hope was 4. The ying yang answered that prayer."

Katara sat down next to Zoe. Zoe seemed absorbed in her own thoughts.

"I know what it's like to lose someone."

"Who said I lost anyone?" Zoe snapped.

"You did before."

"Oh."

"My mom was taken away from me."

"My parents were too." Zoe said sadly.

"I'm so sorry." Katara couldn't believe it. She lost her parents and her sister? How is she not a walking disaster?

But she is. When she sleeps.

Katara hugged Zoe. For once in her life, Zoe didn't push the person away. She couldn't believe that someone understood some of the pain she was going through. It felt like someone had lifted a tiny weight off of her. Zoe let her tears fall. She just wanted to cry openly, something she hadn't done in a long time.

"Ying and Yang left a piece of themselves in Zoe. Zoe didn't know it though. Four years later, Zuko was training he burned his arm. He was 10. Hope bended some water onto the burn. It healed miraculously. 

But it left a small scar. The next day Fire Nation guards were on their doorstep. They took Hope away."

Zoe finally broke away. She looked at Hope's picture. She turned it over.

"I should have stopped the Guards from taking her."

"Zoe you couldn't have. But why are you so mad at Zuko?" Katara asked. Zoe's eyes hardened at Zuko's name.

"He told the guards that Hope was a waterbender."

"Zoe came to me and begged me to train her. I refused seeing how young she was. But the tree next to her burst into flames and the river became completely still. As I trained her, I taught her everything I knew. Then she went off to learn waterbending. She wanted to free Hope. She wanted to get her out of prison."

Zuko stepped out of the shadows.

"And it my fault Hope was there in the first place."

Katara backed away. No. Katara felt sick to her stomach. Zuko wouldn't do that. Zuko wouldn't do that. Right? Zoe looked at her.

"And Hope died in prison."

"How do you know?" Katara asked.

"I went to the prison. They told me."