Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to Shivisdivis for being my most awesome reviewer! I've never had anyone wish me luck on writing my chapters before it's such a nice thing to add to a review. I've been having a lot of fun writing this story and your reviews a part of the reason why. I appreciate every single of my reviewers so please don't hold back! I love knowing what you think and how you feel (good and bad) about my story. Happy shipping and long live Zutara.
9. The Little Water Tribe Girl
Katara couldn't speak. From a young age she had played out scenarios in her head where she met her mother's killer. In everyone of those scenarios she looked him in the eyes and told him who she was. She told him about the sacrifice her mother had made for her. Then she made him pay. The ways in which she made him pay were always different. Pushing him off a cliff so that she could watch the look on his face as he fell. Setting him on fire so he could know what it felt like to burn. Drowning him so that he knew the might of a waterbender. The ways in which she wanted to hurt the man who killed her mother were endless. The anger she felt over her mother's death scared her, but it also sustained her. Like a second heart that beat within her.
"How?" She asked Zuko.
"I know who attacked your village that day. It was the Southern Raiders. We find the leader and we find your mother's killer."
"You're sure?"
"I'm Positive."
"All right. Ten minutes. She said. "Ten minutes is all I need to get ready."
Katara hurried back into her tent and began packing only what she thought she would need for the trip. She also needed to change her clothes. Her Water Tribe clothing would be a dead give away. This was going to be a mission of stealth and she needed to dress accordingly. Of course she had not packed anything for this type of situation, but she would probably be able to find something on the airship. After she finished packing her bag she boarded the airship and began looking for something that didn't scream Water Tribe.
She searched the ship until she found a storage locker full of long black cloaks. She picked out one for herself and picked one that she figured would fit Zuko. She took the cloaks straight to Zuko's tent.
"Open up it's me." She called out.
The flap to the tent opened at once and she stepped through. "I got this for you."
Zuko held up the black cloak. "Thanks."
"Not a problem." She said as she shrugged into her cloak.
"We should tell the others before we go." Zuko said. "We're going to be gone for at least two days."
Katara shouldered her backpack. "Let's get this over with."
Sokka and Suki were still sitting around the camp fire. Sokka was telling Suki a funny story and she was laughing so hard there were tears running down her face.
"Zuko and I are going on a field trip." She said abruptly. "We're going to find the man who took my Mother from me."
Their laughter stopped at once.
"You and Zuko are going to what?" Sokka asked. His mouth hung open long after he had asked the question.
"You heard me." Katara said. She wasn't going to repeat herself.
"How?" Sokka asked.
"I figured it out after you told me the story of the raid on your village. I know who did it. And I know how to find him." Zuko explained.
Sokka closed his slack jaw and turned to look at his sister. "I'm not saying you shouldn't go, but Katara-
"Don't try to stop us." Katara snapped at her brother.
"What are you going to do when you find him?" Suki asked.
Katara shrugged. "I don't know, and I won't until I see him."
"She needs this, Zuko said glaring at Sokka and Suki. "This is about getting closure and justice."
"She was my Mother too, but I don't know if this is a good idea."
"Then you didn't love her the way I did."
She was so angry right now, If Sokka had seen their mother's body, had seen what that monster had done to her, he would feel the same way she did. Thankfully he had been spared that pain, but Katara hadn't. She could never forget what she saw when she ran back into that tent. Or how their father had dropped to his knees and let out screams that gave her chills just thinking about it. For as long as she lived she would never forgive what that man did to her. To her family. To her mother. Never.
"Katara." Sokka cried.
She had to turn away from the hurt look on her brother's face. The hurt look that she had caused. Nothing gave her the right to attack her brother's love for their mother. When she got back she would apologize to him, but right now she just needed all of this to end.
"This shouldn't take more than two days." Katara said as she climbed on to the back of Appa.
When Zuko climbed up and settled himself into the saddle Katara flicked Appa's reins sharply and called out. "Yip, yip." Appa pumped all six of his powerful legs and ascended. Katara watched her brother's worried face as it fell from her view. She wanted to tell him it was their mother's killer he should be worried about.
Appa flew right past the full moon and Katara felt her skin tingle from the nearness of it . She flexed her fingers around the reins. Underneath the full moon and surrounded by water she felt unstoppable.
"We need to find the Fire Navy communication tower." Zuko explained. "All the navy's movements are coordinated by messenger hawk. And every tower has to be up to date on where everyone is deployed."
"So once we find the communication tower we bust in and take the information we need."
"Not exactly. Zuko cautioned. "We need to be stealthy and make sure no one spots us otherwise they'll warn the southern raiders long before we reach them."
As much as Katara wanted to go in and waterbend the hell out of soldiers she knew what Zuko was saying made sense. This was not a mission she planned on failing. Her eyes searched the horizon for a communication tower. The moon provided plenty of light for her to see. The advantage of living on the South Pole for most of her life was she could see things on the water and in the darkness faster than most people. She spotted the communication tower even before Zuko did. She smiled to herself. The spirits were benevolent tonight.
The communication tower was a lone edifice on a huge rock island. It was too well guarded to be able to fly directly there so Katara flew Appa to a smaller rocky outcrop beside the rock island. From there she formed a huge sheet of ice and used it as a boat and sailed it across the open waves to the island. When they had reached the island Katara created a huge wave to lift them up to the communication tower.
Quietly as they could the pair made their way inside. She followed Zuko's lead down hallways and corridors until they ended up in a crawl space above the Fire Navy dispatcher's room. There was a ventilation grate on the floor that allowed them to see down into the dispatcher's room below. There was only one person in the room. A woman working on a map. A bowl of ink sat on the table in front of her.
Using her bending Katara caused the ink to spill from the bowl and on the map and the woman working on it. As she hoped the woman got up from the table and went to wash the ink off her hands before it could dry and stain. They wasted no time in getting down to the Dispatcher's room. For once Zuko's military training was working in her favor. He located the map of the Southern Raiders and unrolled it on a table.
"Bam!" Zuko said pointing to the spot on the map where the Southern Raiders were deployed. "On patrol near Whale Tail island."
"Whale Tail island here we come." Katara said. She ran out of the communication tower so fast that Zuko struggled to keep up with her. He was still climbing up on to Appa's saddle as she was yelling yip yip.
"You should get some rest. We'll be there in a few hours. You'll need all your strength." Zuko suggested.
"Now, don't you worry about my strength. I have plenty. I'm not the helpless little girl I was when they came." She said. "It was such a normal day. That's one of the things I remember most. Sokka and I were having a snowball fight like we did almost everyday. I don't know why but as soon as the black snow started falling I ran to find my mom. I knew she needed me. I just knew it."
Katara felt like no matter how fast she ran that day it wasn't fast enough. That day had been like being trapped in a nightmare where you ran and ran, but you never got anywhere.
"He was already in our house when I got there." Katara said. Her voice was flat. Whenever she spoke of that day she had to remove herself from all emotions. Feeling what she had felt that day would be her undoing. "I knew right away he was evil. He stood over my mom like she was something he wanted to get out of his way. He didn't act as if he saw a person. He didn't see my mother. He saw a job he had to do." Katara curled her fingers into the palm of her hands. "My mother begged him to let me go and he did, but only because she promise to tell him what she knew. Where the last waterbender in the South pole was hiding." Katara could feel herself breaking apart. If only she had been faster. If only she had not left the tent. If only she hadn't been born a waterbender her mother might still be alive. "My mom told me to go find my dad, and I ran as fast as I could, but, we were too late. When we got there, the man was gone. And so was she."
"Your mother was a brave woman."
"I know." Katara touched her mother's necklace. It was the only thing to survive the flames that had been hot enough to melt bone into ashes. Her chest felt tight with anger and unshed tears.
Zuko took over flying Appa and insisted that Katara try and get some sleep.
Katara finally conceded. A little sleep didn't sound like such a bad thing. She switched places with Zuko and curled up on Appa.
"There!" Zuko cried.
Katara jerked herself out of her sleep.
"See those Sea Raven flags?" He asked and threw her a telescope in case she didn't. "It's The Southern Raiders."
Katara looked through the telescope. Sure enough there was the Southern Raiders' ship out in the distance. It's flag proudly waved in the night sky. Soon the Southern Raiders would have nothing to be proud about. She lowered the telescope. "Let's do this."
Appa dived down in to the water pumping his six massive legs in double time. Katara stood up and held back the water with her bending creating an air bubble for everyone.
The Fire Navy soldiers were on their lunch break. They had no idea what was about to happen. While Appa was still under water Katara bent a long whip of water, wrapped it around an unsuspecting soldier, and flung him off the side of the ship into the water below.
The renaming soldiers looked over the side of the ship into the water to try and determine where their fellow shipmate had gone, and that's when Katara struck again. Appa swam under the ship and rose up slowly from the water on the other side. Despite being ten tons Appa made almost no sound. The soldiers certainly didn't hear anyone coming. They were grouped together eating and chatting unaware that they were seconds away from one bad night.
Katara bent up a powerful wave that rocked the ship sideways and washed the soldiers out into the sea. Appa landed neatly on the deck of the ship. One lone soldier that had some how managed not to get washed over by Katara's mini tidal wave tried to attack, but Katara was quicker she knocked him off the side of the ship with a water canon blast to the stomach. He flew of the ship and a few seconds later she heard him splash down. Nothing was going to stop her now that she had come this far.
Once inside of the ship she and Zuko raced down the corridor. Katara had formed a pair of aqua arms she was ready for anything or anyone who might come their way, but it was Zuko who caught the surprise attacker who popped out of a supply closet brandishing a sword at them. Zuko caught his hands and forced him back into the closet, and then trapped him inside by placing the soldier's own sword through the door handles.
Katara waited by Zuko's side to make sure that he didn't need her for backup. He didn't.
"This is it, Katara. Are you ready to face him?" Zuko asked as the two of them stood before the final barrier between her and her mother's killer.
She didn't answer. She pulled her face mask down and with an angry grunt aimed a powerful stream of water at the closed door before her. The metal door groaned as it was forced back on it's hinges and she and Zuko rushed into the room.
The Fire Navy Captain began firing on sight. Zuko must have suspected that would be the outcome because he quickly stepped in front of Katara and began deflecting the Captain's fiery fist blast and quickly bent out his own.
"Who are you?" The Captain asked. A quick fire volley with Zuko and he'd come to realize that he was up against a formidable foe.
"You don't remember her?" Zuko asked. "You will soon. Trust me." He aimed a fire blast at the Captain's head and the Captain had to spin out of the way to avoid being hit by the flame.
The Captain rounded on Zuko and prepared to strike back with a flame of his own, but Katara had had enough. The moon was full, Hama had taught her well, and Yue was on her side. Nothing could stop her. She barely had to move from the spot she was standing in to bloodbend him. She whipped The Captain's arms around like branches in a windstorm. She was the spider and he was merely a fly.
Zuko didn't know what was happening to the Captain at first. For a second he thought he was trying to dance, perhaps the steps to a Firebending form Zuko didn't know.
"What?" The Captain asked out loud. "What's happening to me?"
Then Zuko realized the Captain wasn't doing anything he was having something done to him. He looked at Katara. She was doing it. She was the one controlling the Captain. His eyes widened in shock as he watch Katara bring the Captain down to the floor in a kneeling position. All with the ease of a few simple movements.
"Think back. Zuko said recovering from his shock. "Think back to your last raid on the Southern Water Tribe."
"I don't know what you're talking about." The Captain whimpered as Katara continued to work her will against his. "Please, I don't know!"
"Don't lie!" Zuko growled. He knelt down and slapped the floor beside the Captain's head. "You look her in the eye and you tell me you don't remember what you did." He pointed toward Katara. He wanted the coward to finally face her.
Katara bought the Captain up to his knees so that she could look him into his face. "He's not the man." She said. Her voice sounded as if all the air had been sucked from her body.
"What?!" Zuko shouted. "What do you mean he's not? He's a leader of The Southern Raiders! He has to be the guy!"
Katara didn't bother to argue with him. She just turned and began walking out of the room.
Zuko however wasn't so ready to give up. He had made a promise to Katara and he intended on keeping that promise. He grabbed the Captain up off of the ground and slammed him into the wall roughly. "If you're not the man we're looking for, who is?"
"You must be looking for Yon Rha. He retired four years ago."
"Where does he live?" Zuko barked.
"Fi-fire Cc-c-cove! He lives in the village of Fire Cove."
Katara felt hollow. It wasn't him! How could she have come all of this way to not find her mother's killer? She was so blinded by her tears that she had to land Appa in the first patch of grass she found. All of her anger had now become grief.
"Why Yue?" She sobbed as she slid down from Appa's saddle. She dropped to her knees and wept openly. She had failed her mother and wasted everyone's time in the process.
"Katara are you OK?" Zuko asked.
"No! This was a waste of time!" Katara shouted. "I should have never come." Angry tears continued to spill from her eyes. She'd been so ready to take her mother's killer on, but that wasn't him. Somewhere on this earth her mother's killer still walked free never giving a second thought to what he had done.
"It isn't a waste of time Katara. We can still find the man who killed your mother. We know who we should be looking for." Zuko said. "We know his name."
Katara spun around. "Why? Why are you doing this?" She shouted at him.
Zuko tried to step into her space to calm her down, but Katara pushed him away.
"Is there something in this for you?" She asked. "Is this some kind of ego stroke for you? You do one thing for the broken little Water Tribe girl and the slate gets wiped clean, is that what this field trip is all about?"
"Before I left the Fire Palace to come find you I learned that my mother was banished from the Fire Nation for protecting me. Up until now I never knew why she left, but I still remember the last night I saw her. She came into my room one night and told me that she loved me. She told me that everything she ever did was to protect me, and to never forget that. I never have."Zuko confessed. He stepped closer to Katara closing the space she had created between them and shocked her by wiping away her tears.
The disappointment of not finding her mother's killer had left Katara feeling so cold inside that she wanted to curl up in Zuko's warmth. She wanted him to wrap his arms around her and hold her until the sun came up. He was always warmer than anyone else she knew, but she guessed that was because he was a firebender.
"I never saw my mother again after that night. Part of me will always feel I'm to blame for her banishment. If she hadn't of been trying to protect me she never would have been banished, but that's what mom's are like Katara. Your mother's death isn't your fault, and I thought if you got to confront your mother's killer you'd finally be able to put the blame where it belongs, and not on yourself. Zuko took one of her hands and placed it over his heart. "I can't undo what I've done to you or what the Fire Nation has done to you." He put his hand on top of her hand."But I can give you closure. I promise you that."
Katara's hand was still resting on Zuko's chest and she could feel how fast his heart was beating. She looked into Zuko's eyes, she never could resist, and felt trapped by his gaze. He looked so beautiful in the moonlight. The feelings she had for him that she kept hidden just beneath the surface began to stir. Zuko understood a part of her that everyone else refused to see. He accepted her darkness and enabled her to see a part of him he rarely ever showed. His vulnerability.
"I didn't know about your mother." Her words seemed small in comparison with the moment. Katara wish she had the courage to tell him that the best parts of himself were the parts he tried so hard to hide.
"No one knows." He said. "I've never told anyone before."
"I won't tell." Katara said. She reached down and absent-mindlessly touched her mother's necklace. "I promise."
"I'm sorry I took your mother's necklace. If my own mother knew how dishonorably I've behaved she'd be ashamed of me."
"No she wouldn't" Katara said. "You've changed and that would mean more to her then anything else."
"Do you really think so?"
"I know so, that's what mothers are like."
Zuko smiled down at Katara and it made her feel like she was riding the crest of a huge wave. Their lives paralleled each other in so many ways how could she not be drawn to him? She had been ever since that day in Ba Sing Se. Back then she knew he had the potential to be the person he was becoming now, but she just couldn't be sure he wouldn't relapse. Katara took a step back from Zuko and let out the breath she had been holding. Spirits help her she wanted him. She'd only be lying to herself if she said she didn't. When he had said that Mai was his ex-girlfriend it excited her more than it had a right to.
"This looks like a nice enough place to set up camp, what do you think?" Zuko asked.
Katara looked around and nodded. "Looks fine to me."
Zuko climbed up onto Appa's saddle and handed their supplies down to her. After all the supplies were put away Katara fed Appa and Zuko set up their tent and then started a fire.
Katara got out the supplies for dinner. It wasn't much just rice, blubbered seal jerky, and wild onions and mushrooms she found growing around the area. She knew them to be edible thanks to Chunhua. With the food they had on hand Katara decided the easiest thing to do was make soup.
"How can I help?" Zuko asked.
"Would you mind making some tea?"
Zuko nodded. "I used to make the most awful tea, but my uncle would never tell me. I only found out because I caught him spilling out a cup of tea I had just made him one day." Zuko laughed. "He could have just told me."
"So how come you're so good at it now?"
"My uncle taught me. He pretty much taught me everything I know."
Katara watched Zuko making the tea with the same artistry he had back in Taku. Like a master of the stage every time Zuko made tea he did it a little different and each performance seemed better than the last. She loved the intimate feeling that was created when ever he made her tea. Zuko could make tea for a thousand other people but it always felt like their special little ritual when he made tea for her. He sat down next to her and handed her a cup.
"Thank you." Katara said and took the cup from Zuko.
"It's the least I could do."
They both turned away from each other to watch the grass rippling in the breeze in front of them.
"Soup smells good." Zuko noted.
"That means it's almost done." Katara said and gave it a stir with her bending.
"I've been all over the world but I haven't had a chance to eat much Water Tribe cuisine, of course that probably has a lot to do with me being public enemy to both the North and the South." Zuko said.
Katara set up the wooden crate she packed some of their supplies in as a dinner table. She set out two bowls with spoons and bent some of the soup into the bowls. "When this war is over you'll have to come back to the Southern Water Tribe as a friend."
"I'd like that." Zuko said and poured her another cup of tea.
This was not how she expected this field trip to go at all. It seemed like she gone through every range of emotion that she could and now she was calm,relaxed, and thoroughly enjoying herself with Zuko of all people. In this moment she felt closer to him than she had to anyone in a long time.
"Good soup."
"Thanks." Katara said. "I don't think this counts as true Water Tribe cuisine since basically I just threw it together."
"The true cuisine of any culture are meals that are just thrown together." Zuko said.
When all the dishes were clean and the fire was out Katara and Zuko sat side by side and looked up at the stars.
"Why don't we sleep outside underneath all the stars and the full moon." Katara suggested. "It will be better than sleeping in that musty tent."
Zuko shrugged.
They brought their bed rolls outside lay them down side by side. Their bed rolls were so close together they almost made one bed.
"This is better. Zuko said. He lie back on his bed roll with his hands resting on his chest.
"I told you, there are too many stars in the sky to spend the night sleeping in a tent." Katara pointed up to the sky. "Look you can see the little flipper."
"The what?"
"You know the big flipper and the little flipper. The two constellations that are famous for looking like a tiger seal's flippers." Katara took Zuko's hand from his chest and guided it across the night sky to the constellation. "Right there."
"Yeah, it does look like it could be a tiger seal's flipper." Zuko said as Katara used his hand to trace the outline of the constellation.
Katara moved Zuko's hand up and to the left. "There's the big flipper. I can't believe you've never heard of them." It felt so natural to be holding Zuko's hand that she didn't want to let go. She liked the way his hands were so much bigger than hers. When he took her hand it was completely enveloped in his. After tonight there would be no reason for the two of them to be this close anymore.
"I only know about the coiled ratviper."
"Where is that one?"
Zuko took Katara's hand and it was like sparks went off inside of him. He felt like he could fly ten times higher than Appa ever could.
"See." He said. "Those cluster of stars right there look like a snake ready to strike."
"Ooh. I see it!" Katara cried excitedly. She moved closer to Zuko so that their sides were pressed together and their heads were touching.
It was taking everything inside of Zuko to lie there and be normal. He looked up at the coiled rat-viper constellation and prayed to the Spirits that Katara wouldn't ask him a question. Nothing that came out of his mouth right now would be intelligible. She didn't say anything however. She just kept looking up at the stars.
Tomorrow everything would be different. They would find the man who killed Katara's mother and she would get her vengeance. She could exact some hell of a vengeance from what he'd seen of her back at the communication tower. What she had done to that Fire Navy Captain, how she had controlled his body like a puppeteer, he had heard stories about an old woman with that power. He hadn't believe the stories until now. Katara was more powerful and more amazing than he could have ever imagined. No matter what happened between them after this, nothing could take away from these last few days.
Usually Zuko was the one to wake up before Katara, but when he woke up this morning she was already up. He watched her as she ate one of the sticky buns that she had packed and drank some mango juice.
"What?!"
Zuko sat up in his bed roll. "Did you sleep at all?" he asked her.
"I slept enough." She replied. "We should get going."
"The sun isn't even up yet."
"Yeah, well too bad I am." Katara said.
Zuko nodded. Tunnel vision Katara was back. He helped her clean up their campsite. Then he took Appa's reins and flew them into the outskirts of the village where Yon Rha lived. He hid Appa behind a huge hill.
Thick clouds had rolled in. They were heavy with rain. "We'll walk into the village from here. We should scope out market square first. That's where most of the villagers will be."
Side by side the climbed up a long path of zigzagging stone steps that led to the market square. Zuko's heart beat so loudly in his chest he wondered if Katara could hear it. He looked over at her as she walked beside him. Her eyes were clouded over with thought. Wherever she was it was a million miles away from him.
The market square was empty save for one merchant selling fruits and vegetables. Katara and Zuko stood in a dark corner of the market waiting for a crowd to arrive. It didn't take long before the first customer showed up. Katara studied him. The spirits were benevolent once again. It was Yon Rha. Her mother's killer. This time Katara was sure. He was a tall man with long gray hair. Even though he had retired four years ago she could see that he clearly kept in shape. He was not someone to take lightly, but she didn't have to tell Zuko that.
Katara stalked after Yon Rha like he was prey. She would catch him by surprise just like he had caught her mother by surprise. She could feel hatred building inside of her. The pit of her stomach churned and pitched as though it were a sea of acid. Katara's palms were burning her face was burning. It took every last ounce of self control she had not to run up behind Yoh Rha and push him down the steps. Watch all his bones break and stand over his broken and bloodied body as he drew his last breaths, but then he'd never know who she was. She planned on making sure he never forgot.
Yon Rha walked into the market square she could tell that he was aware of her presence. He was as skittish as an ostrich horse.
She and Zuko slipped behind an empty food stall and watched Yon Rha as he made his purchases.
"Hello?" Yon Rha called out. "Did you see someone?" He asked the man running the food stall.
The owner of the stall shook his head.
Yon Rah took his purchases and started back down the stone steps towards his home. Katara and Zuko stayed hidden behind the food stall for a few minutes before going after him.
"Hello?" Yon Rha cried out. "Is someone there?"
"That was him. That was the monster." Katara told Zuko as they continued to watch her mother's killer make his way home.
Rain began to fall at a steady pace. Katara didn't even feel it. All she could think about was getting revenge on Yon Rha. Any minute he would walk into the tripwire Zuko had set up, and then it would be all over, but the crying.
Yon Rha stopped in the middle of the path and looked around for his pursuers. Finding no one he continued on his way only to stop again when his suspicions got the better of him. "Nobody sneaks up on me without being burned." He shouted and bent out a huge column of flame.
You can look all you want to but you'll never find us. Katara thought. Not before we find you, and by then it will be too late.
Believing he had chased whoever it was that was following him away Yon Rha bent down to retrieve his fallen groceries. He looked behind him one last time to check that he was alone and didn't notice the tripwire. It did its job and knocked him flat on his murdering face.
As Yon Rha got to his feet Zuko sent a well aimed fire ball at his face. He had to scramble back like a crab to keep form being burned.
"We weren't behind the bush. And I wouldn't try firebending again." Zuko warned.
"Do you know who I am?" Katara asked coldly.
"No, I'm not sure."
"Oh you better remember me like your life depends on it!" She demanded. "Why don't you take a closer look."
"Yes, yes. I remember you now. You're the little Water Tribe girl."
No where left to go. No where left to run little man. Katara thought. All the hatred she felt for the Fire Nation she felt for this man.
"I was only following orders that day." Yoh Rha gulped. "Strict orders from Fire Lord Oazi himself! He wanted me to take the waterbender out. It was nothing personal." He sniveled. He was still laboring under the misapprehension that anything he said could change her mind.
"She lied to you. She was protecting the last waterbender."
"What?" Yoh Rha asked. He had no idea who he took from the world that day."Who?"
"ME!" Katara screamed and turned to face Yoh Rha. She had heard the term blind rage before, but up until now she had not realized it was more than a phrase. It was also a physical manifestation. Katara couldn't see anything in that moment all she could feel was her anger. Her whole body burned hot with the strength of her anger. She didn't have a mother because of this poor excuse for a human being, and he had the gull to beg for her mercy? Had he shown her mother any mercy?
She held her arms out to her sides and stopped the rain from falling around her. Using all of her muscles, all of her concentration, and her sheer force of will she bent the rain back, gathering it until she formed a gigantic dome that encased them all. A few stray water droplets hung and pulsed in the air in rhythm with her beating heart. Katara wrenched her hands violently above her head and bent huge ice daggers. She turned on the spot and hurled the solid daggers of ice straight at Yon Rha. It ended now.
All Yon Rha could do was cover his face and wait for his end to come.
All of Katara's anger vanished the moment she looked at Yon Rha's cowering form. She thought of her mother cowering on the ground and how she must have felt knowing that she was going to die. He hadn't even thought of her life for a second. That's how inhumane and empty he was. What would she gain from killing him? It wouldn't bring her mother back. Or stop the war. It wouldn't even give her a sense of justice. The only thing it would do was destroy her. Then Yon Rha would have taken two lives instead of one. Her mother had given her life so that Katara could live.
The huge jagged ice daggers that she formed hung suspended in the air. She couldn't do it. The ice daggers melted with her waning anger and splashed water over Yon Rha instead impaling him.
"I did a bad thing. I know I did and you deserve revenge. So why don't you take my Mother? That would be fair."
"I always wonder what kind of person could do such a thing." She said staring at Yon Rha who was still groveling on the ground, she doubted if he was even sorry. He was selling her a show he thought she wanted to see. Anything to save his worthless existence. "But now that I see you, I think I understand. There's just nothing inside you. Nothing at all. You're pathetic and sad and empty."
"Please spare me." Yon Rha begged.
"But as much as I hate you I just can't do it."
Zuko's voice came back to her "Your mother's death isn't your fault, and I thought if you got to confront your mother's killer you'd finally be able to put the blame where it belongs, and not on yourself." Zuko was right. The monster she had wanted to kill all this time was her guilt. The guilt she felt over her mother having to die so that she could live. It was the invisible dark spirit she'd been fighting for most of her life. The guilt is what she wanted to destroy. Not Yon Rha, and not herself, not any more.
Finally it was over. She turned from Yon Rha and walked back to where Zuko had hidden Appa earlier.
"Katara?"
"I'm fine. I'll be fine Zuko."
"You ready to leave this place?"
Katara didn't even have to look back. She just nodded. "Yes. There's nothing left for me here."
Zuko flew them back to the patch of grass she had landed in earlier. She slept the whole way there, but despite how sleepy she was Katara still managed to wake up before the sun had risen.
"Morning." Zuko said and handed her a cup of tea.
Katara yawned, took the cup of tea, and sat down next to Zuko. "Morning."
"We should head out soon." Zuko said. "Or the others will start to worry."
"Let's watch the sun rise first." She reached down and took Zuko's hand and the two them moved closer together and watched as the sun rose high into the morning sky.
The sun was a golden fiery amber as it sunk in the sky. It reminded Katara of the color of Zuko's eyes. She never noticed before what beautiful eyes he had. She had always thought that Zuko was handsome, but now he was beautiful.
Sokka and Suki were sitting around a campfire. Their heads were close together and they were talking about something intensely. Sokka was all hand movements and facial expressions. Suki's brows were furrowed and she was nodding a lot. Katara wonder what they were talking about. Probably her and Zuko..
As she and Zuko approached the campfire she cleared her throat .
"Katara! Zuko! You're back!" Suki cried and ran up to hug her.
"So. How did it go?" Sokka asked. "Did you...?"
Katara shook her head and went up to her brother and hugged him. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. It was uncalled for. No matter how upset I was I should have never question your love for our mother." She bowed her head.
"I forgive you." Sokka said.
"Aang what are you doing here?" Zuko asked.
Katara stepped out of her brother's embrace and turned around.
Aang and Toph were standing side by side. Aang looked sheepish and slightly guilty, and Toph looked bored and annoyed.
"Toph and I came looking for you. You were gone so long we got worried." Aang explained.
"Aang got worried." Toph amended."I wanted to stay in Taku."
"No need to worry. I'm doing fine." Katara reassured him.
"Sokka told me what you went to go do, or hopefully what you didn't go do."
"I didn't." Katara said.
"I'm proud of you." Aang replied. The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed ratviper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself."
"I wanted to do it. I wanted to take out all my anger at him but, I couldn't. Katara closed her eyes. "I don't know if it's because I'm too weak to do it or if it's because I'm strong enough not to."
"You did the right thing Forgiveness is the first step you have to take to begin healing." Aang explained.
"But I didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him. Katara closed her eyes. Aang couldn't know it because he hadn't gone along, but she was healing. She was finally able to forgive herself for surviving, and that was thanks in part to Zuko who wasn't anymore to blame for her mother's death than she was.
She turned to Zuko "But I am ready to forgive you." She told him. After all he was part of the reason why the heavy stone of guilt had been lifted from her shoulders. Looking into Zuko's face now she didn't see the enemy. He was part of the group. He was her friend. More than a friend. Katara let what she was feeling for him show on her face and she didn't care. She couldn't have hidden her emotions for him if she tried. Katara wanted him to see. She wanted to see where these feelings would take them. There were somethings in life you couldn't fight.
Katara's words were like music to Zuko's ears. As she approached him he could feel himself trembling inside. She had never looked him in the eyes before, not like this. She didn't want to forget what happened between them anymore than he did. When she hugged him his arms went automatically around her. It felt so natural like she was already his. Like they already belonged to one another. Somewhere on that trip the two of them had turned a corner and now there was no going back. Not that Zuko wanted to go back. He wanted to kiss Katara. He wanted to wrap his hands around her hair. She smelled wonderful like river lilies.
Katara stepped away from their embrace, and it was like having his skin stripped from him. Happy moments like these were so few and far between in Zuko's life. Katara coming into his life was more than he would have ever dared to dream for. He never knew he could want someone as much as he wanted Katara. He couldn't not act on his feelings, and as much as he cared for Mai he could never go back to being her boyfriend. They had been growing apart for awhile now and the war only seemed to widen the chasm between them. Even if Katara didn't feel the same way about him as he felt about her he still had to tell her how he felt. It was still worth the risk. The best things in life always were.
