Zuko made his way down the hall away from his room towards Katara's. Maybe she would be able to help him think through his thoughts, especially since she mysteriously knew so much poison, maybe this would all make more sense to her.
He knocked on her door. When he heard no response, he opened it slightly and peeked in. He figured he would find her asleep, but to his surprise, she wasn't even in her room. He opened the door further and walked in, looking around in a complete circle. The room was dark, and she was nowhere to be found.
Where could she have gone? Zuko asked himself. It wasn't like there was anywhere to go in the palace, and there wasn't much to do outside of the palace that was close by. As he looked around the room, he spotted her bag sitting wide open on her bed. A piece of parchment sticks out from it, looking very crinkled and torn around the edges. He knew it was wrong to look at it, but curiosity got the better of him. It was Katara, he didn't expect anything bad from her.
As he looked over the document after removing it carefully from the bag, his eyes grew big as he read over it. This had to be a coincidence. This couldn't be what he thought it was. If it was, then that meant that Mai's killer's identity was closer to being discovered than he had originally thought…
Suspicion clouded Zuko's mind as he made his way to his study where Katara surely was, already awake and working. Usually Zuko was tired and only about half there in the mornings. He never got much sleep, what with all his work and Mai's death which still haunted him. Last night wasn't any different, but he was fired up. This was the confrontation he had been waiting for since the night he lost his love.
Zuko walked into his study and his eyes went straight to Katara, who looked up at him with a smile, just like she did every morning. Her smile began to vanish as she stared at Zuko though. The expression that was on his face was different from all the mornings before when he came in. Instead of a tired, kind of out of it expression, it was full of fire and fury today. Zuko knew things, things he was unsure about, but he was going to get to the bottom of all of this.
"Hey Zuko, is everything alright?" Katara asked, looking nervous as she continued to stare at Zuko.
Zuko shook his head. "No, not really. Yesterday I found out how Mai died, soon after finding this in your room." He held up the paper that he had found in her bag. He knew he shouldn't have taken it, but he didn't want to lose it. It may be just what he needs to prove what happened that night. After looking it over and thinking about all the discussions he had had yesterday, he thought he may have come to a clear conclusion of this whole situation.
"You went through my stuff?" Katara asked, offended, not even bothering to hide the fact that it was hers. She didn't think Zuko would think much of it. But as she looked closer, she realized which paper it was, and her eyes flooded with horror.
"Not on purpose. I was looking for you and I went to your room. You weren't there, and I saw this hanging out of your bag. I was just looking a little, but as I was, suspicion was clouded all around this paper, just like it is around you right now."
"Zuko, what are you talking about?"
"Why did you break up with Aang?"
Katara sighed. Zuko had finally lost it. She knew it was a matter of time. Mai's death really had affected him. She'd just have to keep up her act. "It would be hard for us to keep a relationship if we were halfway around the world from one another for an unknown amount of time."
"Then how did you guys manage to keep it up while you were in the Water Tribes doing healing if he was out around the world after the war?"
"It wasn't like it was that long that we were away…"
"And you thought you'd be here for a long time?"
Katara shrugged. "I guess, but…"
"How did you learn so much about poison from your time healing? From what the doctor told me yesterday, it sounds like a very uncommon thing that isn't used much except for by medical professionals and the people who steal it."
"You met with a doctor yesterday?"
Zuko nodded. "Yes, he said that the most likely cause of Mai's death was by poison. They found toxins in her body. After I told him that there was a glass of water by her bed, he said that that was most likely the source of how the poison got into her body."
"Well at least you know what happened then. Did he have any ideas of who could have done it?"
"No, but I have a pretty good guess myself."
"Who?"
"Like you don't already know. Katara, cut it out, I know why you're here. You can't keep up this act."
Katara's act of cool melted away as panic began to take over some. "Are you saying I did this?"
"Not directly, but you played a role in this. Admit it, I have all the proof I need, you can't talk your way around this!"
"What proof? I wasn't even here that night!"
"No, but this letter seems to come from a well-known and very secretive assassin who I happen to know resides here in the Fire Nation. We've never been able to catch him, unfortunately, but I would recognize this document anywhere. I've seen it from many other cases before. It's the same agreement document that he seems to give to all of the people that hire him."
"So what are you saying?"
"You hired the assassin who killed Mai, Katara. You hired him to put poison into Mai's water that night, so that way when she drank it, she would die. The poison couldn't be seen in the water so it would seem like it was something unknown altogether. And then when I invited all of you here, you jumped right at the opportunity to stay behind with me, leaving Aang in the process in hopes to get closer to me. You wanted Mai gone so that way you could be the one here with it. Just admit it, I've figured it all out."
Katara sighed, throwing her hands up. "Fine, I guess you do have figured it out. I did it, I did all of that. I really didn't think you would see through all of it, but I guess I was mistaken."
"Why, Katara? Why would you kill Mai? Why would think that with her gone, I would want you instead?"
"We made a great team! Didn't you see it? I know I hated you for so long thanks to your constant chasing us, but that all changed when you joined up with us. You actually helped. You helped me discover who killed my parents. You even helped me realize a thing or two about myself. And then we came here, and brought Azula down, together! It was perfect, and then Mai came back in and you two were inseparable from then on. I've wanted her gone since then, and when I happened to come across this opportunity, I figured it was worth a shot."
"So this is all of jealousy? Of you just wanting to be with me?"
Katara shrugged. "People do crazy things when they want someone. I guess I'm just another one of those fools."
Zuko sighed and turned and went out of the room. Katara didn't move, her eyes not leaving the door. She didn't know what Zuko was doing, but he would be back soon, and it surely didn't involve anything good coming for her.
