TIME FOR ONE OF MY FAVORITE EPISODES! HOPE YOU THINK I DID IT JUSTICE. AS ALWAYS THANK YOU FOR READING, LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK, AND I OWN NOTHING.

Aang flew Appa for hours after our defeat. He said he was looking out for a place close enough to a Fire Nation village that we could get supplies but also far away enough that no one would just stumble upon our camp. I had fell into a sort of hazy state of shock, but Sokka, Toph, and Zuko kept trying to talk to me. Everyone else that escaped with us sat awkwardly, because they didn't have much to say or didn't feel the need to. Although their conversations were annoying me at the time, they were arguably the only thing keeping me afloat.

Perhaps my reasons were selfish, but I was taking the loss harder than everyone except maybe Aang. I felt guilty for not putting my own fears aside to comfort him, but I couldn't pull myself together enough for that. The whole world was counting on Aang and he probably thinks he failed them again, but my baby was counting on me. I was supposed to make this a safe world for them, and I failed. Zuko and Toph treated me with uncharacteristic amount of gentleness, and I was grateful for it. Toph actually knew why I wasn't handling myself well,but Zuko was just being kind.. Now that we lost, I was even more scared then I was before and I felt even more guilty for not just telling everyone.

Zuko wrapped an arm around my shoulder and ran his hand up and down my arm. Toph carefully climbed over and sat between Sokka and I. "Are you hurt?" She asked .

"No, I healed myself earlier. I'm okay now." She was instantaneously her normal self.

"Katara, I told you if you got hurt I would tell-" She stopped herself exhaled. "You're okay now?" She asked in a calmer tone. I nodded.

"Tell what?" Zuko asked innocently. No. Not now. No. No. No. I looked to Toph with an expression that probably only shown half the terror I was actually feeling. Even though she couldn't see me pleading with my eyes, she felt it and returned to a flippant tone.

"Tell everyone that she sometimes cries in her sleep." Toph said with a teasing attitude . I felt Zuko's ribs rattle as he let out a small chuckle.

"Would have never guessed." He added jokingly before giving me a small squeeze. "Only joking." Relieved, I was suddenly much more awake.

"There." Aang announced. "We'll spend the night there." He said pointing to a forest at the base of the mountain we were flying over. Moments later Appa softly landed in a small clearing and one by one we all climbed off.

As soon as my feet hit the ground I felt the urge to throw up. I stumbled over to behind some trees and gagged. It took Toph almost no time to come up behind me.

"This again?" I would've made a remark if I could get it out before gagging again. She put a hand on my back. "I know this isn't what any of us wanted to happen today, but this is even more of a reason for you to tell everyone. Or at least him." I knew Toph was right but I shook my head.

"Tell everyone what?" Zuko asked while walking up behind us, and I knew he wanted an answer this time. "Katara are you sick again?" He bent over to look me in the eye.

"What, no I'm fine. I'm- I'm just upset." I finally said, weakly pushing him away from me. Zuko groaned.

"You promised no more secrets!" He cried. "After today, no more secrets."

"Today isn't over?" I tried.

"Katara!" He chastised.

"I know but-" Zuko cut me off.

"No, tell me. I just want to help you. We all do." I made sure to no start crying again when I spoke.

"I know what I said Zuko." I said firmly. "But please, I can't. I can't just-"

"Katara." Toph poked.

"No!" I shouted. "Toph stop. Just leave me alone, both of you. I can't."

"Ka-" Toph tried.

"No!" I shouted again. "Spirits, I wish mom was still here." Zuko gave me a strange look at the mention of my mother, but then gave a defeated sigh.

"Tell me when your ready, I guess." He said clearly trying to hide how upset with me he was. "I just want to help, and you're the one who promise." Then he walked away, but turned back one more time to give me a disappointed look. I put a hand up to my necklace.

"Mom." I choked out, and I started to cry again. "I wish you could tell me what to do."

I didn't speak with anyone other than Sokka for the rest of the night, but he didn't feel much like talking. All he would talk about is how his plan was one big failure. Weakly, I tried to make him feel better.

Later as I fell asleep I watched him and Zuko talking with each other. Everyone else was telling stories and starting to goof around again but they spoke with each other seriously. I fell asleep anyways, and had one nightmare after the next. Ones I couldn't wake myself up from. Early in the morning I was jolted out of bed.

"I know who killed your Mother. I'm going to help you find him." I was wide awake now. It took me a minute to process what Zuko just said. The first thing we had in common was the fact that both of us lost our mothers. That arguably what got me in the situation I was in now. but Zuko was Fire Nation and that meant he was part of the reason she was gone.

Of course he would be able to find out who did it. Of course he would want to do this for me. A dark feeling inside me made itself visible and my surprise morphed into anger. Without saying much to him, I quickly got up and readied myself.

Zuko quietly followed me around as I put some supplies into a bag. When I felt ready to leave, I woke Aang up.

"I need to borrow Appa." I said, trying to be level.

"Why? Is it your turn to take a little field trip with Zuko?" He said sounding a little agitated. I couldn't blame him for being annoyed with me. This was the first time I was saying anything to him since the invasion, and it was just to ask for something.

"Yes, it is." He looked surprised.

"Oh. What's going on?" He asked in a more nice tone.

"We're going to find the man who took my Mother from me." Toph and Sokka's gasped but I kept looking at Aang. Zuko spoke behind me.

"Sokka told me the story of what happened. I know who did it. And I know how to find him." Aang rubbed his eyes.

"Umm- and what exactly do you think this would accomplish?" I was almost certain he knew what my answer was, but he wanted to hear me say it anyways. I didn't bother justifying myself.

"I knew you wouldn't understand." I turned away and walked toward Appa.

"Wait, stop, I do understand. You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?" Aang pleaded for me to look at him again.

"She needs this, Aang. This is about getting closure and justice." Zuko said defensively. I watched how he spoke to Aang and felt he actually understood what I wanted.

"I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge." Aang argued and I threw my hands up in annoyance.

"Maybe it is. Maybe that's what I need. Maybe that's what he deserves." I felt a hand on my shoulder. Sokka looked hurt and concerned.

"Katara, you sound like Jet."

"It's not the same. Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster." I felt like I might cry again.

"Katara, she was my Mother too. But I think Aang might be right." Sokka's voice was softer than usual.

"Then you didn't love her the way I did." I retorted coldly. My brother looked absolutely speechless.

"Katara-" He dropped his hand and turned away from me. Aang got in front of me again.

"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."

"That's cute. But this isn't air temple pre-school. It's the real World." Zuko quipped condescendingly. I might have laughed if it wasn't for the seriousness of the circumstance. I calmed my voice.

"Now that I know he's out there, now that I know we could find him, I feel like I have no choice." I desperately wanted Aang to understand, but I began to realize he couldn't.

"Katara, you do have a choice. Forgiveness." The idea was incomprehensible, and Zuko seemed to think the same thing.

"That's the same as doing nothing." Aang shook his head repeatedly. This was not in his nature.

"No it's not. It's easy to do nothing." He put a hand on my shoulder. "But it's hard to forgive." His tone was warm, and it made what he was saying almost believable. I looked at him darkly.

"It's not just hard, it's impossible." I shrugged his hand away and climbed on top of Appa.

"So you were just going to take Appa anyway?" He was clearly sad.

"Yes." Zuko climbed into the saddle as Aang sighed loudly.

"It's okay, because I forgive you" He gave me an exaggerated smile. "That give you any ideas?" He asked hopefully, but I didn't answer.

"Don't try to stop us." He frowned again.

"I wasn't planning to. This is a journey you need to take. You need to face this man." I secured my bag on Appa's saddle. "But when you do, please don't choose revenge." Zuko scoffed. "Let your anger out and then let it go. Forgive him."

"Okay, we'll be sure to do that guru-goody-goody." I wasn't sure why I thanked Aang before we took off, I felt like I should so I did.

"Thanks for understanding Aang." I looked up to the sky. "Yip yip."

Throughout our journey Zuko didn't talk much. He did occasionally suggest I relax or offer to steer Appa for awhile, but I didn't give him more than a few word answers. It didn't matter how tired I was, how guilty I felt, all I wanted was to find this man.

By the time we were supposedly close to where we were looking for, it was already late evening again. "We need to find the Fire Navy communication tower. 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." I began to bring Appa down towards an iceberg near the communication tower Zuko was just talking about.

"Not exactly." With the help of some of his airbending, Appa landed on the water almost silently. "We need to be stealthy and make sure no one spots us. Otherwise, they'll warn The Southern Raiders long before we reach them."

"Okay, got it." I told Appa to wait behind a giant iceberg we landed next to before following where Zuko went. When I caught up he pointed to a window next to the main entrance of the tower.

"We can sneak in there." I nodded.

"I trust you." He looked like he wanted to say something but shook his head and stopped himself.

We had a surprisingly easy time getting inside. Once in the main corridor, we noticed only a few guards were patrolling the area and they didn't seem to be too alert. After sneaking around and peaking inside several rooms we found an office with a large desk. Zuko opened up the door a tiny bit and nodded to confirm this is where we should start looking for our direction. Zuko halted suddenly. As I opened my mouth to speak he clapped a hand over it.

A Fire Nation soldier that I hadn't seen before slowly walked across the room, reading a large piece of parchment in his hand. While the man had his back turned Zuko quietly closed the door again. Then he put his hands out and helped me up to the rafters lining the hallway. Once I wiggled my way on top, I reached down and pull him up as fast and as silently as I could. Right as Zuko pulled up his dangling legs the soldier opened the door and left the room. As soon as he rounded the corner at the end of the hallway I sighed in relief. We dropped down and darted into the room.

Zuko closed the door behind us and we began digging around for anything showing us where the Raiders would be. A few minutes later Zuko found the parchment that the man had earlier. "Ah ha." He rolled it out on the desk. "Okay, Southern Raiders" He pointed to little white flags. "There. On patrol near Whale Tail Island. " I looked down at the map and then up at him.

"Whale Tail Island, here we come. " I took the lead on our escape and dove out the window. It was about a twenty foot drop from the window to the frozen ocean. I used a little bending on impact to make sure I didn't make a huge splash on impact. When I resurfaced I looked up at the window and Zuko was looking down at me horrified.

"Katara! What the-"

"Jump, I'll catch you." I said calmly in a matching whisper-shout.

"Are you crazy?! That water is freezing!" I shrugged, even though he was right about how cold it was. Zuko suddenly turned around in shock, before looking at me again.

"Zuko, jump!" He turned around and stepped away from the window. I heard a scuffle and then it was quiet again. Fearful I would have get back up to help I began freezing the water underneath me, but Zuko reappeared at the window and I relaxed again. This time, without hesitation, he jumped and as promised I used bending to help resurface him.

"Oh!" He took a huge intake of breath. "It's so cold." I realized he probably wasn't able to deal with the cold temperature as well as I was, so I formed a small piece of ice in between us and told him to hold on.

After creating a current to push the ice, I go us back to the big iceberg Appa was waiting on. I pulled the water out of our clothes and Zuko used a little firebending to warm us up. It was the middle of the night by the time we left, but Appa didn't seem tired so we pushed forward.

Once again I took control of the reins, even though Zuko still offered to take a turn. Soon after we left he fell asleep in the saddle, and I didn't mind. Him being well rested was more helpful for me, but it left me alone with my thoughts. Very dark thoughts.

A few hours later he woke up and once again offered to let me rest. "No, don't you worry about my strength. I have plenty. I'm not the helpless little girl I was when they came." Even though I realized Sokka was the one who told Zuko the story of my mother's death, I felt compelled to tell him again. So I told him about the day my mother died, what I seen, but couldn't look at him while I did. I didn't want to cry, I was tired of crying in front of him.

"But, we were too late. When we got there, the man was gone." My voice cracked. "And so was she."

"Your Mother was a brave woman." He said softly. I unconsciously reached for her necklace, but Zuko brought me out of my momentary stupor "There!" I instantly spotted the ships he was pointing to. We arrived to where the map told us the ships would be, and so I once again left Appa behind a nearby iceberg.

Then using bending, I snuck Zuko and I underwater towards the ship. We used a later on the side of the haul to climb to the deck. I went first, and stopped right at the floor to peers over the side.

"Let's do this" Looking up at the ship deck, I seen it was nearly identical to the one we had been on while escaping the Earth Kingdom. A group of Fire Nation soldiers were gossiping idly on the deck. I pulled a huge tendril of water out of the ocean and into my control.

"So there I was and I was like, you know, you could-" I sent a stream of water coils round one guard and the others watched helplessly. The man screamed as I threw him overboard. The other soldiers ran to the other side of the ship to look. Zuko and I jumped over the railing and each started fighting one of the two remaining guards.

When they were finally incapacitated Zuko and I quickly charged up the stairs towards the cockpit. Hoping that we could get to the capitan without too many other encounters, I tried to be quiet. We got to a metal door I knew the captain would be behind and Zuko stopped me. "This is it, Katara. Are you ready to face him?" I firmly nodded. He kicked open the door and I readied my arms. The man behind the desk immediately began firebending but Zuko kept jumping in front of me and deflecting it.

"Who are you?" The man yelled in shock. Zuko growled and pointed at me.

"You don't remember her?" The soldier turned to me. "You will soon. Trust me." Zuko began throwing more attacks toward the man. I took the distraction and used it as a chance to freeze the man to the floor.

"What?" The soldier began panicking as the ice crept up his body faster than he could melt it. "What are you doing?" His helmet fell off as he tried to shake the ice off. I brought the ice up to his neck. Then I brought water up to his mouth and forced it down his throat.

Zuko stiffened as he watched. He didn't stop me, but Zuko was clearly shocked by how cruel I was being. Just before the man could drown standing up, I yanked the water out and he began gasping for air and coughing.

Zuko seemed to let out his breath as well, but swiftly switched back into his menacing persona. "Think back. Think back to your last raid on the Southern Water Tribe." He demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Please, I don't know!" The man begged. Zuko pointed at me again.

"Don't lie! You look her in the eye and you tell me you don't remember what you did." He looks me in the eye and suddenly I realized.

"It's not him." I dropped my hands, and the ice encasing him sloshed into a puddle his feet. The captain fell to the floor and I looked at him shamefully. "He's not the man." I sighed.

"What?! What do you mean he's not? He's a leader of The Southern Raiders! He has to be the guy!" The man on the floor began to stand up. Zuko's confusion went back to aggression. He pulled him by the arm and pushed him against the window in an arm lock. "If you're not the man we're looking for, who is?" The man groaned.

"You must be looking for Yon Rha. He retired 4 years ago." He croaked out as I quickly wiped away the tears forming in my eyes. Zuko threw him to the floor and then grabbed my wrist.

"Where can we find him?" Zuko ordered.

"An island just north of here, its a piece of remote fire nation territory." The soldier explained. "That's all I know, I swear." Zuko seemed to accept the response and then looked to me.

"We have to get out of here." I agreed and we hurried off the ship. We defend ourselves from oncoming attacks, but didn't stop to do anything on the offensive. After we jumped overboard, and I commanded the water below to catch us.

Somehow Appa knew we were coming, because he met us arguing I let Zuko steer this time, and took a brief nap on the way to the island the commander told us about.

When we landed Zuko gently shook me until I woke up. I felt drowsy for only a few seconds. As soon as I remembered where I was and what we were doing I shot up. When I got down Zuko brought me to a ledge and pointed to the bottom of the hill. There was a small farm and just beyond that a little village of sorts. "That's where he should be."

"How do you know?"

"I asked a local while you were asleep." The mischievous way he said that implied he did more than just ask but I didn't question him. I turned to Appa and began petting in between his eyes.

"We'll be back boy. Don't get into too much trouble." He let out a small groan and I smiled. Zuko sheathed his dual swords and I picked up a few puddles of water to refill my water skins.

We snuck down the steep hill and around the farm to the small path that led to the town. Zuko hoisted me up to a large branch just out of my reach and I helped him pull himself up beside me.

Then someone started yelling from inside the farmhouse. There was a frail looking old man kneeling in the flowerbed in front of the house. He looked up to the open window, still holding a small gardening tool in his hand. The screeching voice coming from inside the small house shouted again.

"Yon Rha, you lazy piece of work, I need something." The man began walking towards the building slower.

"Yes Mother, what is it?" He asked shyly.

"The tomato-carrot from your garden are too hard for my gums. I need something soft and juicy." The lady screeched at the old man.

"Would you like something else from the garden? I would be happy to-" The lady harshly interrupted.

"Forget your stupid garden!" Yon Rha winced. "Get your grimy hind to the market and buy me some real food!" He sighed and picked up the basket at his feet. As he started heading back down the path I looked to Zuko and he nodded. After confirming my suspicions that this was actually the man I was looking for I then gestured to show I was going to jump down. He put a hand on my shoulder to stop me and mouthed the word 'wait'.

The old man didn't spend to much time in the village but still, by the time I heard him coming up the path again the sun was beginning to set. The man, Yon Rha, was carrying the same basket but it had some produce in it. I was so focused how angry I was getting just looking at him I let my foot slipped, and I nearly fell out of the tree. Even though I caught myself, the man looked over towards the tree. He didn't seem to spot us but he definitely heard me.

"Hello?" I put a hand over my mouth and mentally cursed myself. I finally got a chance to look him in the eyes as he looked around paranoid. It was him, there was no doubt this time, this man was him. The old man put his basket down on the ground as it began to rain. "Nobody sneaks up on me." He knew we were here, but he still wasn't able to see us. He put his hands out in a weak firebending stance and took a few steps forward.

He jumped as a bush next to him shook in the wind and then reflexively set it on fire. The old man trips on a small wire Zuko places across the path while he was in the market. Right as he fell Zuko jumped down and pointed his hand towards he old me.

"We weren't in the bushes."

Yon Rha shielded his face. "Whoever you are, take my money. Take whatever you want, I'll cooperate." I jumped in front of Zuko.

"Do you know who I am?" I demanded as he squirmed to his knees.

"No,I'm not sure." He pleaded.

"Oh you better remember me like your life depends on it!" I got up in his face but he just recoiled. "Why don't you take a closer look."

"Yes, yes. I remember you now." He looked shocked. "You're the little Water Tribe girl." Yon Rha gulped nervously. "She lied to you." he knew what I was talking about now. "She was protecting the last waterbender."

"What? Who?" The man tried to scoot further away from me again.

"Me!" I brought up my arms and all of the raindrops around me stopped falling. After forming a large dome around us, I pulled from it and made a huge blob of water. I shifted the direction of my arms, the water turned into ice spikes.

Once again the old man weakly covered himself with his forearm. I yelled out in anger and commanded the ice to impale the wretched old man, but just as the spikes were about to make impact, I stopped. I let the ice melted instantly and fall to the ground. "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." The kneeling man was so pitiful.

"I always wonder what kind of person could do such a thing. But now that I see you, I think I understand." I stepped forward again. "There's just nothing inside you. Nothing at all. You're pathetic and sad and empty." The old man grabbed the bottom of my tunic pleadingly.

"Please spare me." I shook him off me angrily.

"But as much as I hate you," I exhaled calmingly. "I just can't do it." He smiled weakly at me. Before anything else could happen, I walked away. I could hear the old man begin to sob behind me, but I didn't look back. Zuko eventually followed me and we wordlessly let Appa fly us back to the forest our friends were waiting.

It didn't take more than a few hours to return to them. Aang was, of course, the first to greet us. "Katara!" He cheered. "Are you okay?" I shrugged.

"'I'm doing fine." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"So, did you-" I knew what he was asking.

"I wanted to do it. I wanted to take out all my anger at him but, I couldn't." Aang looked relieved and pleased. "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."

"I'm proud of did the right thing." I gave him a flat smile. "Forgiveness is the first step you have to take to begin healing." I froze and I felt my anger creep over me again.

"But I didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him." I looked over Aang's shoulder at Zuko. "But I'm ready to forgive you." I paused in front of him and he smiled. "Really forgive you." I threw my arms around his neck. Slowly I felt him wrap his arms around my waist in return. I hid my face in his shoulder to hide my face. "I'm sorry-"

"Thank you. It's okay, everything is going to be okay." In that moment I let myself believe him, and ignored the guilt I still felt. I let go and wiped my eyes. I wanted to tell him in the moment, it couldn't be that bad. I finally felt like I could tell him, there was a baby, he was going to be a dad.

"Zuko, I-"

"Katara!" My brother was calling my name as him and Toph came over. I began patiently answering their questions, still wishing I was given the chance to finally say it. As I spoke, I listened to Zuko and Aang's conversation. Zuko's voice was level.

"You were right about what Katara needed. Violence wasn't the answer." I could feel them both looking at me.

"It never is." Aang said confidently as Toph asked me why I hadn't dried myself off yet. Zuko didn't say anything for a while, so I thought that was the end of their discussion. But then he spoke up.

"Then I have a question for you. What are you going to do when you face my Father?"

THANK YOU FOR READING; PLEASE REVIEW XOXO