Nothing much to say, just thanks for staying with me.

As always, characters by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, Story by Me.

Scars

As the sun began to set most of the group made their way back to Air Temple Island on Zuko's ship. Appa was able to take the ride because of the vast size of the royal vessel. The adults and the boys stayed on the top level of the ship while the two little girls made their way to Ursa's stateroom.

"What's this big secret?", Kya asked as Ursa made sure no one was in the hallway and closed the door.

"I finally found it," she said with a grand smile on her face, "I found a way we can be sisters."

"Daddy said there's no way we can really be sisters. He said that as long as we loved each other enough we would always be family"

"Yes, yes", Ursa said rolling her eyes, "We all know about Avatar Aang's Words of Wisdom. I'm talking about something real, that we can see and touch and that nobody else has."

"What's that?", Kya asked, part excited, part weary of what trouble the two of them may get into.

"Well, the boys at school do this thing where they cut their fingers with a little knife and then rub them together. They call it 'Blood Brothers'."

"Okay, no, 'cause first of all that's all kinds of gross. Second of all, I am NOT letting you cut me and third of all, my mom will kill us when she sees our fingers."

"I thought of all that, that's why I came up with something better."

"What?"

"We can be Scar Sisters."

"What does that mean?"

"I made it up.", Ursa said, puffing up her chest, "We'll scar each other in a place our parents won't see, and if they do, then it'll be too late for your mom to heal it. It'll hurt, but at least we won't bleed."

Kya was confused, she hated admitting that she didn't know something, but Ursa said it would hurt, so she had to ask, "What's a scar?"

Ursa looked at her friend in disbelief, "What did you say?"

Kya spoke slowly, "What…is…a…scar?" She had heard the word before, but she didn't know what it was.

The princess was still shocked at the question, but she answered, "A scar is a mark left over from when someone gets hurt…you know, like the huge one on my dad's face."

It has never dawned on Kya that they mark on Zuko's face was anything more than something he was born with, after all, Toph had very light eyes because she was born blind. So if that was a scar on Zuko's face then…

"My dad..", she whispered when the realization hit her, "My dad has scars…on his back, and on the bottom of his foot. Somebody hurt my dad?", she asked as if it was impossible.

"He does?", Ursa asked, not believing it herself. Who could possibly want to hurt her sweet Uncle Aang. Then she shook it off, "Are we going to do this or not?"

The young water bender's curiosity was taking over. She wanted to know what a scar felt like, "Yeah, how do we do this? Where will we put it?"

"Right here.", Ursa pointed to her hip, "That way our parents won't see it…unless your mom still baths and dresses you."

Kya was offended, "I'm turning eight, not five. I'm not a baby Ursa."

"Okay, okay. Don't get your panties in a knot."

"So how do we do this?"

"We burn each other.", Ursa said matter-of-factly.

"How in the world am I going to burn you?

"I'll heat my finger and let you use it to mark me, then I'll mark you."

"Okay"

Ursa pulled one side of her bottoms just low enough to show the top of her hip, then she bent a small flame on the tip of her finger and offered it to her friend. As Kya took her hand, Ursa gritted her teeth and closed her eyes tight. When Kya placed her finger to her side she hissed, trying not to cry out in pain. Kya released Ursa's hand and jumped back, "I'm sorry!", she yelled.

"It's okay, I told you it would hurt,", she said looking down on her fingerprint on her hip. "Are you afraid now?"

"No, come on.", Kya lifted her tunic and pulled her pants down past her hip, "I'm ready.", she mimicked her friends earlier actions.

Having fire actually touch her skin was something Kya had never experienced. Although the fire had only touched her for a second, the pain seemed to radiated her entire hip. When she looked down she saw the shape of the tip of Ursa's finger, red a swelling on her flesh. "Damn that hurt!", she cried out, using a word she learned from Toph, or Sokka, she couldn't remember who.

"Ohhhh, you cussed."

"Well you just burned me, and yourself."

"What!?", Ursa exclaimed, "You burned me!"

"That's not my finger print on your hip.", Kya laughed.

"You sneak."

The next morning, Kya woke up with scars on her mind. Not the little painful one hidden by a bandage on her hip, but the big one on her father's back, the one on his foot, and the one on her Uncle Zuko's face. She tried to shake the thoughts from her mind, after all, it was her birthday.

She woke Ursa and the two girls got into their beach cloths. They ran into the kitchen, "We're ready to go!", they yelled as they stopped at Aang's feet.

"What about breakfast?", he asked.

"But Dad, It's my birthday. I just want to go to the beach and have fun."

"You have to eat,", he said firmly, "I won't have you getting sick today. Your plates are ready. We can go when you're finished."

When Aang used that tone, the kids knew that his word was final. The girls went into the kitchen, sat on either side of Bumi and wolfed down their food. When The others came in to say that it was time to go the girls were already standing at the door.

It was a beautiful day to be on the beach. Tenzin played in the sand with the men while Katara played water bending games with the older children. As the sun climbed higher in the sky, the men got hot and took their shirts off; that caught Kya's attention. She noticed that Zuko had the same scar on his chest that her father had on his back and foot. She tried not to stare, but she couldn't help herself. She managed to stop herself after a few seconds. She knew that her parents wouldn't tell her what happened, so she made up her mind to ask Zuko. He would tell her the truth. So, for now, she would enjoy her birthday.

They didn't leave the beach until after dark. The boys had already fallen asleep, so Katara carried Tenzin while Aang carried Bumi. The girls dragged sleepily behind Zuko who was carrying a couple of empty picnic baskets and the beach towels.

The children were all put to bed, but Kya did not go to sleep. She listened patiently as the adults went up front. A little while later she heard her parents laughing as they walked past her door and into theirs. She knew that that meant that her father would be bending a stone wall behind the door soon. Maybe the next thing I need to ask Uncle Zuko is why he does that., she thought.

As soon as she heard the wall go up she jumped out of bed and tip-toed down the hall following the smell of Jasmine Tea to the kitchen where she found Zuko smiling to himself, rotating a cup of tea with his finger.

"Uncle Zuko," she startled him out of his day dream, "can I ask you something?"

He started to ask her why she was up, but he saw the serious look on her face. He got concerned, "You can ask me anything Kya."

She looked down at her bare feet and shuffled them around, "Ursa said… she said," she hesitated, then she spoke fast so she didn't loose her nerve, "Ursa said that a scar is a mark from when you get hurt. I wanted to ask who hurt you…and my dad."

Zuko's eyes widened, then relaxed. He reached out for Kya and sat her on his lap, studying his scar. He held his head down and spoke softly, "You remember that I told you that my father, Ozai, was the Fire Lord before me."

"Yes."

"And I told you and Ursa that he wasn't a good king."

"Yes, you said that Daddy had to beat him to win the war."

That's right. Well, he wasn't a good father either. When I was thirteen he burned my face as a punishment and sent me away."

Kya hugged him as if his wound was new and she was trying to make him feel better, "I'm sorry you had a bad daddy, Uncle Zuko." He hugged her back. "Did he burn your chest too?

He released the child and rubbed the spot, "No, my sister shot me with lightning. Your mother saved my life."

"She did?", Kya asked proudly, then she realized what he meant and her tone got somber again, "You almost died?"

"I would of if your mom wasn't there to stop my sister and heal me,"

The little girl put things together, "So somebody shot my dad, in the back and foot…with lightning…" she started to cry and her honorary uncle wrapped her in his arms.

"It's okay Kya. Aang is okay. I'm okay. We're perfectly fine, thanks to Katara. It doesn't even hurt, see.", he took one of Kya's hands and placed it on the scar on his face, then he pressed, "It doesn't hurt, it's just a memory."

Aang got up and threw on a pair of pants, intent on getting some water from the kitchen. He felt that Zuko was still in the kitchen and he assumed the child in his lap was Ursa. When he reached the end of the hall he was shocked to see that it was his own daughter, and she was crying. "Kya? Kya, what's wrong"' he asked , getting on his knees in front of her.

"It appears Ursa's been teaching Kya about scars.", Zuko said and he looked down at Aang's concerned face, "She asked where our scars came from."

"And you told her?"

"I told her where mine came from. She figured yours out by herself.'

"Oh Kya," Aang said, taking his little girl into his arms and standing up, "It's okay."

"Daddy," she sniffed, "Who hurt your back? And your foot?"

Aang sat in the next chair, "When I was twelve, I was under Ba Sing Se in a battle. A girl named Azula shot me in the back with lightning and it came out through my foot."

She looked at him, "Zuko's sister? She shot you too?"

Aang looked at Zuko, Zuko mouthed to him 'Tell her the truth.'

"Yes, she shot me."

"Did you almost die too?"

Both men dropped their heads at that question, Aang looked a t Zuko again and Zuko nodded his head.

"I..I did die, for a little while, but your mom had special water and brought me back."

Kya screamed out and wrapped her arms around her father as much as she could, "No Daddy, no!"

It broke his heart to have to tell her that, but the story was known, so it was better for him to tell her instead of someone else. He held her and spoke quietly in her ear, "It's okay Kya. I'm here. I didn't go anywhere. I was just hurt for a little while. Your mom fixed it. Doesn't she fix everything?"

Kya calmed down, but she continued to cry until she fell asleep in her father's arms. When he took her to her room and tried to put her down, she woke up and called out for him not to leave. He sat on the bed and rubbed her back until she fell asleep, and the snuck out.

"What conversation did you and Zuko get into?", Katara asked sleepily when Aang came back into their room, "must have been very interesting."

Aang spoke flatly, "Ursa told Kya what a scar is."

"Don't be silly," Katara said, only half awake, "Kya knows what a scar is."

"No. She didn't"

The answer and Aang's sullen tone woke Katara fully and she sat up, "What do you mean?"

"Think about it, every time she or Bumi ever got hurt we were right there to fix it. They've never even had a scratch."

Katara was confused, "She's seen your back, and Zuko's face, what did she think those were?"

"Birthmarks."

"Hold on," she said wiping the sleep out of her eyes, "how did you and Zuko find out what the girls were talking about, did you overhear them talking about it?"

"No, " he sat on the bed and hung his head, "Kya got up and went to the kitchen to ask Zuko who hurt us."

"And what did he tell her?"

"The truth, that Ozai burned him and Azula shot him with lightning."

"Did he tell her what happened to you?"

"No"

"Good"

"I told her.", he said looking at his wife sadly.

"Why would you do that?", she snapped as she tried to jump out of bed, but Aang grabbed her arm, "You two probably scared her to death, she's only a little girl."

"She's a smart little girl, Katara. Once Zuko told her what happened to him she put two and two together, that's when I came in. I had to tell her the truth. She would of found out eventually."

"Did you tell her everything? Did you tell her that you…", Katara still had trouble saying the words all those years after Ba Sing Se. Sometimes just the thought of Aang's little lifeless body in her arms sent her into another room to cry.

"Yes", he saved her from having to say the word, "I told her that I died and you brought me back."

Her tears started to flow, she tried to pull away "Let me go, I have see if she's alright."

He pulled his wife into his arms, "She's finally asleep, if you go in there crying you'll just scare her more. I stayed with her, that's why I was up so long.", he ran his hand through the length of her hair.

"What if she wakes up and notices you aren't there? What if she has a nightmare?"

"I'll go get her," he said wiping the tears from her cheeks, "she can sleep in here."