Author's Note #1: LOOK, A WILD UPDATE APPEARED!

Author's Note #2: Now that I'm not failing Latin, updates will be more often :D

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xo Dana

o Chapter Three o

Today was a long day. A really. Really. Really. Long day.

Katara had spent most of the early morning doing Water combat training with Aang.

Toph had spent most of midday doing Earth combat training with Aang.

Zuko had spent most of the late afternoon doing Fire combat training with Aang.

And then at dusk, Katara, Toph and Zuko spent all evening throwing their elements at Aang, who had his exhausted ass handed to him.

Fourteen hours of training.

However exhausting, the practice is necessary. The Firelord was to be (hopefully) defeated in a few days; the solstice was almost upon them.

Aang, Sokka, Toph, Zuko, and Katara sat around the small fire Sokka had made whilst everyone else was hard at work training. They had just eaten the most pathetic meal of whatever protein they could find: fish, nuts, tree leaves. They needed serious replenishing after today.

"I think I have never been more tired in my entire life than I am right now."

"Can it princess, we're all tired. Except for maybe twinkle toes over here," Toph jerked her thumb in Sokka's direction, who gave a "humph."

"I used to train like this everyday when I lived at the palace. Its sort of bittersweet to feel this exhausted," Zuko remarked, surprising everyone. He never spoke about life at the palace. In fact, he rarely spoke at all unless it was relevant to combat and training.

Katara couldn't imagine training like this every day. It just wasn't possible.

"I could never do that," she remarked. She glanced at Zuko, who met her gaze and shrugged. She suddenly felt the need to look down.

"I couldn't either, which is why I'm going to sleep instead of talking about it," Toph reasoned. She stood up from her sitting position on the grass and walked ten-ish feet away. They heard the sound of crunching earth.

"I'm going to have to agree with that." Aang said through a large yawn. "At least you guys had breaks during the day. I was literally training from morning to about 20 minutes ago. Goodnight guys," he said as he stood and walked towards his tent. Sokka followed suit, and went into the tent with Aang, mumbling something about "too tired…for words."

Katara rolled her eyes. "For all the complaining he does, you'd think Sokka's the Avatar."

"I heard that!"

"I thought you were too tired for words!"

"Well, …BLEH!"

Katara giggled. And then, a second later, she heard a chuckle from across the fire.

"Zuko, are you laughing at me?"

He sat up from his laying position to face her. "No, of course not."

"But I heard you laugh. You never laugh," she added matter-of-factly.

"Well, Sokka, you know. He was funny."

Zuko failed to mention that her giggle was also amusing.

"Oh, yeah. He can be like that sometimes."

"Most times." He smiled.

Zuko never smiled. Katara was thoroughly weirded out by his actions tonight. Laughing, talking about his now-banished life in the palace, and smiling.

"Zuko, what's with you?"

"Uh, nothing," he said dismissively.

Katara felt weird talking to him. They rarely spoke to each other. Sure there was the occasional "when do you want to train Aang?" and casual conversation, but never a personal one.

But of course Katara knew all about Zuko's personal life.

When they were in the Fire Nation pretending to be Fire Nation citizens, everyone talked about the banished prince. Everyone talked about how disgraceful it was to lose such a beautiful member of the Royal Family. And everyone talked about his scar.

But Katara still thought he looked okay. More than okay, actually. She glanced at him. He was staring off into the distance, which happened to be the ocean tonight. Their campgrounds were perched on top of a cliff, which would seem rather ominous if the cliff wasn't covered in a meadow of soft grass, positioned next to a waterfall. Perfect for Water and Earth bending.

Beyond the cliff was the ocean. And Zuko's eyes were staring into it and the great clear sky above. The sun had just set, and stars were just starting to poke through.

Yes, Katara thought he definitely looked more than okay, especially in the firelight.

He suddenly turned back towards the fire, and caught her staring. She blushed and quickly looked down.

"Were you… watching me?" Zuko asked cautiously.

Katara tried to justify why, exactly, had she been staring? "Well, you've been acting…well, different today, and I was just thinking about it, that's all. Sorry. I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

She almost frantically got up and started walking away from the fire, but not before she heard: "No, don't go."

She turned and saw Zuko, now standing, looking at her with an unreadable look. He suddenly looked conscious of himself.

"I mean, if you want to go to sleep, that's whatever, but I didn't mean to make you upset or anything. If that's why you're leaving…" He scratched his head. Katara had never seen him act this way, but she almost smiled.

Zuko walked to her side of the fire and sat down on the grass next to where she'd been sitting. He felt like a fool and he had no idea why.

Katara, however, felt more confused. Zuko didn't usually talk to her. But now, suddenly, he was almost socializing. Almost. She hesitated, but finally decided to sit next to him (but not too close).

"Zuko?" She looked at him. "I dunno how else to say this. You're being weird. And I don't know why."

Zuko sighed. She didn't mean to offend him. He cast his gaze toward the fire.

"I just need someone to talk to. And I'm not sure who to go to," he half-mumbled.

"Well, we're friends, right? I mean, not best friends, you know… But you can talk to me if you want to," she offered.

Zuko looked away from the amber fire and towards her, and was startled by the blue he saw in her eyes. He still wasn't used to seeing that. He also wasn't used to talking to her. He wasn't used to talking to anyone, it seemed. He'd never had a best friend. He'd always been the prince who was too good for the boys at school, but then who else was there?

He didn't know how to begin. "I just… I feel weird."

"Well, you're acting weird. There! We're getting somewhere," Katara said playfully. He chuckled.

"No, I'm serious. Spending the past few weeks with you and the Avatar, it's really changed me. I feel like… I have this destiny. My Uncle would always talk to me about my destiny, and…" he paused, "I told him I didn't have one." (He didn't think it appropriate to mention that he'd always thought his destiny was to capture the Avatar.) "Uncle always said my destiny would find me. I think… I think it finally has."

Katara didn't know what to say. She didn't expect that this conversation would be quite like this... But then again, she didn't know what she did expect.

"I uhm, don't really know what you mean by that." She spoke carefully.

"Its like… my life… every single thing that happened to me, happened for a reason. A very specific reason. And I didn't know what to do with all of these things, but now it suddenly just clicked…" he trailed off, thinking. He stared into the stars, as if they were mapped out with the same reasoning.

"Like I said earlier, the training with Aang reminds me of home. Its like bittersweet nostalgia. …Everything changed with my banishment. And then I started, ehrm, hunting you guys," Katara frowned, "But now I'm here, and everything is different. I've finally caught up with the Avatar, but I want the exact opposite. I want to help. I want to fix things… And with the eclipse so close, I can almost feel it being mine again. My country. My people. …Fire Lord Zuko…"

Fire Lord Zuko? Fire Lord Zuko? Sure the thought had crossed her mind, but …never like this. She'd always been terrified of Zuko becoming Fire Lord, because that would mean the Fire Lord would be hunting the Avatar.

But this is an entirely different perspective. The Fire Lord… helping the Avatar. Fixing the world with the Avatar. Katara felt a rush of emotions.

"Its like… all of a sudden, I see what needs to be done. Because of my banishment, I sought the Avatar. Now I'm working with the Avatar, and when we defeat the Fire Lord, the Fire Nation will become my country. My banishment was the best thing that could've happened to me…To the fire nation…To all nations…Does that make sense?"

She could tell the question was not directed to her. But it made perfect sense.

He was staring at the stars again. Katara stared at him. She didn't know what to think. She couldn't fathom the thoughts going on in this boy's mind right now.

Just a few months ago, he wanted the Avatar dead.

And now, he wants to help the Avatar kill his own father, so that he may take the throne and fix everything. Everything. With the Avatar.

"Zuko, I …" He looked at her, and sort of smiled.

"I know; you didn't expect that. At all. Sorry. I just, I needed to say it to someone. And you probably think I'm insane because none of it makes sense, but—"

"It makes perfect sense. I'm just… surprised. I'm surprised that you're willing to talk to me like this. I'm surprised that you're willing to give everything to your country, which has banished you. I'm surprised that you're willing to just… take the responsibility of fixing everything; that you're willing to take this destiny you've been entrusted with and just go with it."

"I know. I've just never really talked to anyone like this before. I'm not as bad as I seem, really. Correction: I'm not as bad as I used to be." He looked at the stars again, this time, longer than usual.

"Do you see that?" he cocked his head.

"What?" Katara looked towards the stars in the general direction he was looking (which was pretty vague). "What am I looking for?"

"There's those two stars, right there. Really close together."

"…Yeah, what about them?"

"I've never noticed them before."

"Well, they are stars. There are a lot of them. Its hard to keep track of them all…" Katara was beginning to think Zuko might really be insane, but then he chuckled.

"I know, I look at them almost every night, for hours. I've never noticed those two before."

"Oh," said Katara. She truly had no idea how to respond. Zuko lay down on the ground, hands behind his head, still staring. Katara followed suit.

"My Uncle studied the stars. He told me that there are these stars called "Binary Stars" which is a pair of stars orbiting each other. The stars are so close that they actually pull matter from each other because of gravity. They share their energy source, but they take equally from each other. They're too small to survive alone, they'd burn out right away. But because they can temporarily borrow from each other, they can coexist, forever. And that's what those are, right there," he said, pointing to the pair.

Katara was amazed. Earlier today he had been a furious Fire bender, shouting and yelling during his practice. And now, suddenly, he was this gentle being who examined stars and was destined to save the Fire Nation.

Never in a million years could she have predicted that this conversation would take place.

She glanced at Zuko. He was asleep.

She looked back at the sky. The star pair was still there. She hadn't imagined it.

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xo
Dana