Chapter 10: So, How've You Been?

As dark shapes crisscrossed against his eyelids, Zuko became aware of a warm blue glow. It began to break through the shades, flushing his closed eyes with a cleansing power. He could feel an odd wetness on his chest, warming an old scar, while soft linens caressed his back with its own collection of scars. As energy surged into his body from the warm glob like thing on his chest, he focused all of his will power into cracking his eyes open. At first all he could see were strange multicoloured blurs bathed in a blue glow. Then it all suddenly came into painful focus. Zuko closed his eyes and let out a groan, fighting back the nausea caused by vertigo.

"I think he's coming around," he heard a familiar voice say down around his midriff. "Fetch the others will you?"

"OK!" an excited, high voice said, before the soft sounds of pattering feet started and diminished slowly into an unseen distance.

Zuko took a census of his body. He could feel bits and pieces now, to his dismay. Everything stung as if he'd been rolling around on burning coal for hours. He groaned softly as his nerves started functioning properly, delivering painful amounts of information to his worn out brain. Agh, that smarts, he thought.

"Could you… stop doing whatever it is you're doing to me?" Zuko asked hesitantly.

"What? Stop healing you?" the familiar woman's voice asked, slightly amused.

"Yeah, it hurts," Zuko said as he raised a trembling hand to rub his aching brow.

"You were bleeding everywhere from every place, internally and externally. Several bones were fractured in places where they're not supposed to. You're entire body was a purple, trembling mass, now it's a bluish, quivering heap. And I think you might have had a concussion or two. Trust me; you don't want me to stop."

"…Are you giving me a medical report or trying to make jokes, because I'm not entirely sure… maybe I did hit my head a couple of times…"

The woman chuckled slightly. Then the warmness disappeared from Zuko's chest. A gentle hand was placed on his forehead.

"Can you open your eyes? Are you in pain – oh, of course you are – in how much?"

"Actually, I feel a lot better now that you…" Zuko began, but stopped as a foul taste filled his mouth instead of the words for the remaining sentence. His eyes shot open as he bolted up into a sitting position. "Bucket! Need bucket!"

"There's one in –"

"Blaaarrgh!" Zuko went as he vomited over the side of the bed he was lying in. After he finished emptying his almost empty stomach, he made to wipe his mouth, but a white-hot pain shot through his back, paralyzing him. His body started shaking violently. He fell off the bed, onto the thick rugs he had just vomited on.

The familiar blue glow filled his eye sockets as the warmth once again spread through his body.

"I told you – damn it – I told you, you weren't ready. Try to, to hold still, please!" The woman shouted worriedly at Zuko. He could feel her hands on his back, seeking the source of his pain. When they found it, they formed a cup where warm liquid gathered into a throbbing mass, pumping warm energy into his body. Zuko tried to focus on it, to help the energy flow to where it needed to go, as he had intimate knowledge of directing energy from lightning redirection, but the pain consumed all of his thoughts.

Finally, the pain subsided. Zuko panted deeply, since the seizure had zapped all of his strength. He opened his eyes, and turned his head to look at the blurry shadow above him, quickly coming into focus.

"Katara, zat you?" Zuko asked weakly. The woman above him hadn't changed much; she still wore traditional Water Tribe garments, although they had a few more decorations than the average ones Zuko had previously seen. Her hair had grown even longer, with the occasional braid running along the brown, sleek mass of hair on her back. The biggest difference that Zuko could remember of her old self were the eyes or actually the surroundings her eyes. The eyes still served as a way to peer into the calm, loving, sympathetic, forgiving personality she possessed, but they had deep shadows around them and the beginnings of wrinkles at the edges.

"Yes, Zuko it's me," Katara answered.

"You don't look so good," Zuko said while trying to get up. Katara's hand shot forth to gently, but determinedly, hold him down.

"Ha-ha, very funny. Now hold still. I'm afraid you'll have to stay there on the floor for a while," Katara said while giving the air a gentle sniff. "At least until you can handle being moved."

"Great," muttered Zuko as he closed his eyes, trying to will his body to heal faster.

"Okay, now that we're all gathered here, conscious and not projectile vomiting over someone's bedroom –"

"Sokka, will you let it go?" Katara asked, exasperated.

"Over a dozen guest rooms in the palace and you have to put sir Pukes-a-lot into my room!" Sokka exclaimed as he pointed at himself.

"And I've told you over a dozen times that those rooms are too far away from my own. If I had to trudge up and down the palace like that throughout the day, I'd never have time to actually heal Zuko along with my other chores and duties," Katara explained calmly, although a dark look in her gaze spoke of a rising storm.

"But my room? You could have put him in your own room, then you two could have been even closer," Sokka said, still feeling indignant.

"Oh Sokka, please, give it a rest. What's done is done," Katara said, as she rubbed her brow in frustration.

"Fine, but I won't be forgetting it so easily," Sokka said with a glare at Katara before he turned to the gathered group at large. "As you all probably know, we're here to discuss what to do with the Fire Nation.

"If we already probably know, which we do, why bother stating it?" Toph asked from the floor where she was sitting.

Sokka gave her a glare as well. "Better safe than sorry with the likes of you two," he said as he pointed at both Toph and Ty Lee sitting on the floor.

"Us? What'd we do this time?" Ty Lee asked, portraying an air of innocence as she gestured at herself.

"Rob him of his dignity, what little's left by now after he's had it for years, I'd wager," Toph answered with a smirk.

Ty Lee gave a little giggle. "Awh… look! He's blushing! He looks so cute when he blushes, don't you think?"

"I wouldn't know, but shutting him up sure is funny."

"Why you –" Sokka started but was interrupted by Katara.

"Will you two settle down so we can get down to business? It was bad enough with him going on about the state of his room, but now you two as well?" She asked, looking very tired as she said this.

"Sorry, Katara," the pair muttered like a pair of misbehaving kids.

"Good. So where exactly are we starting at?" Katara asked Sokka, the self-proclaimed leader of the meeting.

"Well, let's start with what we know. From what I've been able to gather from what Ty Lee's told me, and trust me, it wasn't easy, Zuko's been dethroned with a military coup," Sokka answered as he gave a sideways glance at Zuko, lying on the bed with his head propped on his arm. Zuko looked away, but muttered quietly, "yeah".

"Yeah, it was all just so horrible, so not nice," Ty Lee interjected, "There I was just minding my own business in the council meeting, flirting with one of the servants, when some soldiers burst into the room. They arrested most of the council members, although one or two were left alone. Then they came at me, but I gave them a jab, and a punch, and a kick, and then gave them the slip as they started shooting fire at me. I immediately ran to Azula" – she gave a nervous glance around the room at the mention of her name, but continued as no one seemed willing to stop her exposition – "Who was just blasting away at some cronies. We fought our way towards the exit, but then we were like, encircled. I thought we were goners. But that's when Zuko showed up and showed those flunkies what it means to be a real firebender. Unfortunately Azula collapsed for some reason, maybe she was tired from all the fighting or something, and Zuko had to make sure we got out, so he blew up the palace entrance and we ran for the balloon. We took it and flew to the meeting place Zuko had set up with Toph. We picked her up and came straight here." Ty Lee gasped for air as she finished explaining.

"Uhm, thanks for the fast recap," was all that Sokka was able to say.

"Is the Fire Nation really planning to attack us again?" Toph asked.

"Seems like it. Remember that Earth Kingdom envoy? He had all that military info about troop movements and weapon production," Katara said.

"Not to mention the fact that the admiral who betrayed me made it abundantly clear that invasion was the main reason behind my dethroning, because I was bleeding the country dry," Zuko added bitterly, staring at the floor.

Everyone in the room looked at him. He hadn't really spoken after he had regained consciousness. This was the first time he had voiced his opinions on the matter, or anything actually.

Zuko continued staring at the floor, not wanting to see the most likely pitying looks he was being given. He was the Fire Lord and he had been removed from the throne. He had failed his people. He had failed at leading his nation with a strong, inspiring example and had then failed at keeping his throne.

"Zuko, you don't really think like that, do you?"

"You were the best Fire Lord ever, you helped bring peace to the world and like, stop the war!"

"Those guys who dethroned you are just stupid."

The three women tried to cheer Zuko up, ineffectually, but then turned to Sokka, with accusing looks in their eyes.

"What? I gotta say something too?" Sokka asked, feeling extremely nervous under the pressure of the three stares boring into him. No answers were needed.

"Oh c'mon, I… fine. Don't worry Zuko, I'm sure we'll think of something and have you back on the throne soon enough. Just so you know, those Fire Nation traitors are going straight to the top of my list."

"Uh, thanks, Sokka. I guess…" Zuko said solemnly, turning his head up to give the group a look, before it descended again, embarrassed slightly by the concern his old friends were showing towards him.

"Well, now that that's settled… what are we going to do now?" Sokka asked.

No one could answer his question, and only a pair of eyes could avoid not shirking away from it. Toph stared back at him with her glassy stare, turned her head around, waiting for someone to state the obvious, but more elegantly than she ever could. But no answer was forthcoming from the others as they stared away from each other, shamed by being unable to provide an adequate answer.

Toph waited for a moment longer until she sighed and delivered what in her mind was the obvious course to take. "We go and beat those creeps senseless."

Ty Lee gave a weak chuckle, before she stifled it quickly, since no one else in the group seemed to have taken Toph's words seriously. They remained solemnly quiet.

"Oh c'mon! It's so obvious. It's what we did with Ozai. What's different now?" Toph asked, bewildered by the lack of enthusiasm.

"Maybe it's just that… maybe we just have a different perspective on this, since we, uh, actually are involved with the political schemes of the world. Despite what might have been an illegal coup, those "creeps" are now in control, and even though they're still planning war, it might not be too late to try and negotiate with them," Katara answered.

"What? Why?" Toph asked.

"We don't want to risk any lives unnecessarily. If there's a nonviolent option, we should try to take it. Before the last war, no one even knew that a war was coming. There wasn't any room for negotiation back then, but now we have a chance to use what we've learned about the mistakes of the past and try to do better. All the Fire Nation wants is better trade and safer borders right?" Katara said.

Before Toph could object, Zuko's hollow voice beat her to the punch. "It won't work, Katara. They won't be satisfied with that; they'll want retribution for the decade of humiliation they've been subjected to. For the Fire Nation, an offense has always been the best defence. They'll try to take over the whole world again, and they'll prosper because of it. Warfare has been etched into the very heart of my country for over a century. The only way to stop them will be through force."

"You're not suggesting…?" Katara asked, worried by the response she was about to hear.

"We need to gather a force strong enough to cut this thing in the bud, before the real fighting begins," Zuko answered, raising a stony gaze to meet Katara's.

"I'm afraid I agree with Zuko. We should mobilize our forces as fast as possible and inform our allies. Fast, decisive action is what we need, if we want to stop another war from starting. Like you said Katara, this time we know the storm is coming, this time we can stop it before it even gets a chance to begin," Sokka said as he scratched the back of his head absentmindedly.

Katara was silent for a moment as she thought about this for a moment, until, "No, I can't accept that. There has to be a better way. Aang" – her voice faltered momentarily – "we didn't work this hard, to make this world a better place, so we could just resort to the easy, barbaric option. We'll try to negotiate with the new leadership. And that's final."

"Katara –"

"No. No more blood or violence. We set out to make the world a better place, and if we attack the Fire Nation, nothing will have changed. We have to try harder… it's what Aang would have done," Katara finished sadly, as she clasped at a crudely carved betrothal necklace around her neck, with what looked like a large arrow on it.

The room was left silent after these heartfelt words, with each person trying to decide what it was they wanted, needed and had a responsibility to. It was only when the doors to the room creaked open that the deafening silence was broken.

"Mom, we're hungry," a young girl said as she peaked nervously from behind the door.

"I'll be there in a minute. Ok, sweetie?" Katara told the girl sweetly. "Take your brother to the kitchen. I'll come and make you a snack soon."

"Promise?" the girl asked shyly as she glanced at the other people in the room. "Cos last time you said that while having a meeting…"

"I promise," Katara said with a gentle smile.

"Ok, but hurry, we're hungrier than tiger seals," the girl said before she rushed off, returned to shut the door again, and ran off once again.

"Those kids," Katara said, smiling as she shook her head gently.

"Yeah, those damn kids… especially that boy of yours," Sokka said, remembering a snowball to the face with deadly accuracy.

"Wait, when did you have kids? Are they - ?" Ty Lee asked Katara, before she turned peevishly to Zuko with an accusingly wagging finger, "You better have a good excuse for not letting me know. Just because I was away with the Kyoshi warriors for a few years of intensive training doesn't mean I don't deserve to know what's happening with my friends."

"I had no idea either," Zuko said as he stared slack jawed at Katara.

"Didn't we inform you? Oh, it must have slipped our minds because they were born just before… before Aang disappeared," Katara answered softly.

"Oh, sorry… but they're Aang's right?" Ty Lee asked, blushing slightly.

"Of course," Katara said, with infinite patience. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a pair of hungry mouths to fill."

She strode towards the doors, where she stopped to say, "Oh, by the way guys."

"Yeah?" Sokka asked.

"I'll be back later, after feeding the kids, to check up on Zuko's health and give him another healing session, so be sure to wrap up this meeting quick. No excuses. I want to take care of that as soon as possible because I still have a ton of things to do after that. You got that?" she asked, giving each member in the room a scrutinizing look, lingering a bit longer on both Ty Lee and Toph. Then she opened the door, and walked out.

As Katara's tender hands moved across Zuko's muscled chest, searching for any further signs of injury she might have missed earlier, he started becoming a bit nervous.

"Are we done yet?" he asked impatiently.

"Almost," Katara said, sounding rather unfocused. Maybe it was just Zuko's imagination, but she seemed to have a sort of dreamy look in her eyes as she inspected his chest.

He remained silent as Katara continued her inspection of his body, occasionally taking water out of a pouch she carried in order to give concentrated bursts of healing on places where she deemed it necessary.

Zuko could feel a bead of sweat on his brow, shivering slightly before it descended, met another bead, and continued its journey along with its companion down towards his nose. Zuko stared at the bead, annoyed deeply by it for some reason lost to his conscious mind. He tried blowing it away inconspicuously, since Katara had ordered him to remain perfectly still for the inspection.

Suddenly the sweat drop on his nose evaporated. Zuko, shocked speechless by such an odd occurrence in such cold conditions, lifted his eyes and found another pair staring back at them.

"You know, if it was bothering you that much, you could have said something," Katara said as she stared into his golden eyes.

"Sorry…" Zuko muttered. "Are we done now?"

"I guess so."

"Good, It was starting to get a bit chilly with no shirt on," Zuko said as he pulled a dark shirt on.

"It was probably caused by all that sweating, which is pretty odd in these conditions. Are you sure none of your chakras are blocked or something? I know firebenders are good at regulating their own body temperatures, but a closed chakra could wreak havoc on such processes," Katara said contemplatively as she used a towel to wipe her wet hands. She stared at her hands blankly, with a tired look in her eyes.

"You ok?" Zuko asked her uncertainly as he stepped closer to her.

Katara snapped back to attention, shocked slightly by Zuko's voice. "Oh… yeah, I'm fine it's just that…"

"What?"

"Well, everything. It's all wrong. Us at the brink of war again, and no… No Aang here to help us through it all like last time," Katara said, giving a small sigh, "The children didn't even get a chance to know their father."

"Um, I know this might sound a bit… impolite but what exactly happened to Aang? I actually only recently found out he went missing," Zuko asked awkwardly, his hand itching to go and scratch at an even bigger itch on his scar, but resisting.

Katara gave him a contemplative stare. "You didn't know? How?" she asked quietly, but even then, the words sounded infuriatingly accusing in Zuko's ears.

"Look, I was busy ruling a country," Zuko started out forcefully, but finished his remark with a softer tone after the look Katara gave him, "I know it's not a proper excuse, but trust me, I'm already ashamed enough of it as it is."

Katara continued looking at him silently, until she answered his previous question, "I remember it so vaguely. At the time, when I said my goodbyes to him, I had no idea they would be my final words to him before he disappeared. I need to keep reminding myself of that brief moment, so I won't forget how he was before he left."

She turned to look out through a window, where creamy, clouds were growing dark in the twilight. "He said he had to go and do something important, that he'd seen a vision or something from the past Avatars. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew for certain that there was some sort of crisis in the Spirit World, and that it had begun, growing steadily worse, the day he defeated Ozai."

"Back when the comet… and he took my father's bending away… You don't think there's a connection, do you?"

"I have no idea. It could just as easily be a coincidence, although it seems rather unlikely. Great changes occurred in our world that day. A tyrant was stopped. A land saved. And a war ended. Who knows, maybe those changes somehow carried into the Spirit World, our worlds are connected after all," Katara finished explaining and turned to face Zuko. "Well now I've told you about my husband, what about you're better half? Where's Mai? I noticed that she wasn't with you when you came here. Was she...?" her questions trailed away as she saw how Zuko reacted to the mention of Mai's name. Zuko's broad shoulders sagged, and he turned his gaze away from Katara, so that his face was covered in the growing shadows.

"Zuko? Did something happen to Mai?" Katara asked, touching his shoulder reassuringly.

"She… she left me, years ago," Zuko admitted, filling those few words with so much guilt that even Katara felt uneasy.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say," Katara said as she stepped closer to him. "I guess we've both lost someone important to us, huh?"

"Yeah," Zuko admitted as he turned his head to look at her. His eyes felt moist, and Katara seemed somewhat blurry to him. He blinked a couple of times, and brought her face back to focus, closer to his face than he had expected. Her other armed reach up to his free shoulder, like the other hand, seeking to help. Zuko brought his arms around her waist.

The pair stared into each other's eyes deeply, seeing a familiar pain reflected in them. Both moved as one, holding the other tightly in a comforting embrace.

After a minute or two, however, Katara broke the soothing silence between them, as she peeled herself away from Zuko. "Uh, I gotta go and – check up on the kids. If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask, we're well known for our hospitality here in the South Pole," Katara said, with a small smirk, hidden from Zuko as she kept her face down towards the floor. She then walked out of the room, careful not to show any emotion that might mislead him. As she was about to close the door behind her however, she gave a quick fleeting look at Zuko before she disappeared.

Zuko was left alone to wonder. After all the guilt of losing his nation, throne, home and all the mixed feelings the memories of his former wife had provoked in him, he felt rather – what was the odd word his Uncle had used when they'd gone and watched some plays? Ah yes… "cathartic". After his brief, intimate moment with Katara, all of his worries, anxieties and pains had melted away. She really was the greatest healer, Zuko mused to himself as he looked out into the cold night skies, almost empty of stars.