Once back in the palace, Zuko was quick to order Katara's guard fired and replaced ("Anyone who won't give me any and all information when requested is not to be trusted!"), have Katara locked in her room, and for everyone to be brought a dry change of clothes. The servants scurried to do as told.

"Mai," Zuko barked, seeing and approaching the girl waiting in the hallway a feet away, "come with me. I need to talk to you."

Before the pair could leave, however, Azula said, "Be sure to send her to my room when you're done. I need to have a word with her." The narrow-eyed stare she sent her suggested it wouldn't be a pleasant conversation.

Katara was soon being lead away by guards, so she didn't see what other exchange might have occurred among the group. Not that she could really bring herself to care – even with inside help and basic use of her waterbending, she hadn't been able to escape. The eclipse was mere days away (two, to be exact), and the Comet was drawing nearer. The world couldn't wait much longer; the Fire Nation had to be stopped, and quickly.

Plus, what if Azula had been right? What if Fire Lord Ozai really was wary of keeping Aang around? How long did she have before. . . ?

And the eclipse. When it came, so would her friends, but chances were the battle would end with their death or imprisonment, not a heroic victory. If it hadn't been for her stupid big-mouth and Iroh's stupid tea and her stupid injury, their plans would still be a secret and the others would still have a chance of surviving. The way things were at that moment, she may as well have thrown her friends into Koh's lair.

Once locked in her room, Katara was too exhausted and depressed to even think about what went wrong with her escape or how she could do better next time. She just curled up on her bed – still soaking wet – and drifted to sleep.

XxXx

"Why did you do it?" Zuko demanded. He stood in the center of his room, glaring at where Mai sat on the chair by the door. Her arms were crossed and her face held a rather bored expression, though he had a feeling it was just one of her facades.

"Why do you think?"

Judging by his reaction (clenched teeth, one hand on his hip, the other running through his hair), that wasn't the type of answer he was looking for. "No, but. . . Why?"

Letting out a sigh that seemed to indicate this was a very tedious question to answer, she said, "I like you, you like Katara, and Katara hates everyone. I thought getting rid of her would make things easier."

"But I was just starting to make progress!" he said, beginning to pace, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. "Last night, she came and talked to me and was nice. She's never nice! I was finally starting to get through to her, and now I'm back at square one."

"You'll always be at square one."

He tossed a glare at her. "What?"

"I talked to her, too," Mai explained in the usual monotone, following his movement with her pale, golden-brown eyes. "She hates you for bringing her here. And I think she's the type who can hold a grudge."

"I'm telling you, she was starting to soften up –"

"And I'm telling you she wasn't. Being around me didn't suddenly make her hate you again. I don't bring out that kind of emotion in people."

Zuko stopped pacing, turning to give her the full affect of his glare, his jaw set. After a moment of eye-locked silence, he said, "She was warming up. She will. I just need time and patience to show her what a great guy I am, and then she'll have no more reason to be angry."

If she was anyone but Mai, she would've rolled her eyes or let out a derisive snort. Or both. Instead, she stared at him in expressionless silence.

"And you," he said, pointing at her as if to scold a disobedient child, "shouldn't mess with my business. I know you're jealous, but that doesn't give you the right to mess around with my life and jeopardize my happiness."

"Hypocrite."

His eyes narrowed, hand dropping to his side. "What?"

"You're doing the exact same thing to Katara. You took her away from everything she likes and expect her to be happy."

"That's different! I'm –"

"Delusional?" she said, finishing the statement for him. Zuko clenched his fists, clearly seething and looking ready to explode. Feeling unusually bold (maybe there was still adrenaline pumping through her system from helping Katara, maybe it was being alone with Zuko for so long), she decided to stoke his temper. "Maybe she did like you last night. In your dreams, at least."

Face contorting with anger, he seemed poised to lunge and, for a moment, Mai feared he was going to attack her. Instead, he closed the short distance between them, leaning so he was inches from her face as he hissed, "I'm not delusional, it wasn't a dream. I'm going to make up for my mistakes, and she's going to forgive me, and she's going to be happy. She's going to realize I'm not a bad guy."

Struggling to remain stone-faced (he was so close; just one inch forward and. . .), Mai took a barely noticeable breath, exhaled slowly, and said, "You aren't a bad guy. But it's hard to see that when you've been kidnapped."

"She will see!" He was gripping the arms of her chair, shaking slightly as if to emphasize his words. "She'll realize that I only have the best intentions at heart!"

". . . Are you sure you like her? Because that sounds nothing like the girl I talked to."

For a few moments he remained rooted to the spot, staring at her with an expression caught between anger and disbelief and something else (she was never good at identifying emotions), before finally jerking away to pace and grumble and alternate between running his fingers through his hair and simply holding his head in both hands. Mai stayed where she sat, watching him, wondering if this was one of those 'romantic opportunities' Ty Lee was always telling her to seize.

Pausing in his movement, Zuko stood in the middle of the room and stared at his feet, head hanging low and both hands on his hips, seeming to think. Then, pointing to the door with one finger, he commanded, "Out."

Well, that wasn't the outcome she was hoping for.

XxXx

"What seems to be the problem, nephew?" Iroh asked, sitting at Zuko's desk with his hands folded on his lap, facing him with a studious expression.

Sinking onto the end of his bed, the boy in question just stared at the opposite wall, seeming to gather his thoughts. After a while, he asked, "Do you think I'm. . . getting desperate?"

There was no further explanation needed as to what he may be "getting desperate" about.

Iroh hesitated, careful to think his answer through before speaking. It was a touchy subject with a touchy person, and he didn't quite want to deal with Zuko's short and violent temper so early in the day. "I think you're. . . perhaps a bit. . . too optimistic about the situation." At the confused look his nephew threw him, he added, "Miss Katara is a stubborn and passionate young woman. If you do something she views as wrong, it will not be easy to make that wrong a right, especially when her very living conditions are a result of that wrong – which you wrongly assume she'll think is right."

Zuko blinked slowly once, twice, three times. "Um."

Sighing, Iroh said, "She hates that you've taken her here and isolated her from the people she loves, and no amount of wealth or pampering can fix that."

With a groan, he flopped back on his bed, legs still dangling over the end as he covered his face with both hands. "That's what Mai said!"

"Don't you think maybe then it's true?"

"It's just. . . I wanted. . ."

"You'd like to believe that this will be an easy problem to fix. You don't want to think there's a possibility you'll have to let her go."

He laid silently, arms now spread out on either side, staring up at his ceiling. The mattress shifted, tilting to one side when Iroh took a seat beside him.

"I know it's hard, nephew, but it will only get harder if you don't face the truth."

He said nothing, just kept his eyes glued to one spot on the ceiling. Beside him, his uncle sighed, patted him on the head, and stood up (the mattress evened itself out, jostling Zuko, who remained unresponsive). Before leaving the room, Iroh paused to look back at him sympathetically and say, "Just give it some thought. Letting go doesn't have to mean giving up."

Then he left his nephew to the silence of his thoughts.

XxXx

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" Azula demanded, eyes narrowed at Mai and Ty Lee. They stood in her bedroom, the thick tension of anger and fear filling the air between them. "Mai? An explanation?"

"You know why I did it," Mai said, flat tone making it difficult to distinguish if she was one of the frightened or one of the angry. "If it's any consolation, I didn't actually plan on freeing the Avatar for her."

"So your feelings for my idiot brother are stronger than your loyalty to me?" she asked, lightning practically crackling around her fingers (or maybe that was just Ty Lee's imagination).

"Come on, guys," Ty Lee said, glancing between her two friends with wide eyes, hands clasped together against her chest. "Let's not fight."

Ignoring her, Mai said, "If by loyalty you mean acting like a well-trained dog-stallion, than yes. I came here to get away from my controlling parents, not be controlled by you."

"Then what kind of friend are you?" Azula said, eyes narrowing and lips twisting into an angry frown. "Choosing to chase after a stupid boy instead of helping me!"

"Only because helping you means forgetting everything I might want."

"Guys," Ty Lee squeaked again, inching her way between the pair with her hands held up, as if the simple gesture could separate the quarrelling girls. "Let's just –"

"Stay out of this," Azula snapped, making her jolt back. To Mai, she said, "I'm giving you one more chance, because I know how reliable you can be. But if you do anything like this ever again, consider yourself – and your family – excommunicated from the palace."

Then she turned and flounced out the door, beckoning for Ty Lee to follow. Throwing her friend an apologetic look and shrugging helplessly, Ty Lee did as told, leaving Mai alone in the princess's well-furnished room.

Staring blankly at the now-closed door, she wondered if the threat was something she should actually worry over; being banned from talking to Azula was hardly punishing, even if her parents would undoubtedly be enraged by it. Still, Ty Lee wasn't completely awful, and she wouldn't be able to speak to her if she stayed glued to Azula's side the way she currently was. Could she really handle being stuck with her (angry) parents with no connection to her friends?

Not to mention the small matter of Zuko living in the palace. It would be a huge waste of energy to make him fall for her, only to be barred from any association with any member of the palace.

Sensing she was caught, Mai allowed herself a small frown. Once again, Azula's scheme had trapped its victim just the way she wanted it to.

XxXx

"Father, I need to speak with you."

Zuko stood in the center of the throne room, hands fisted and expression determined, ignoring the custom kowtow-before-speaking. He was still dressed in his wet, muddy clothes, hair dripping and drooping over his eyes.

Eyeing him reproachfully from behind his wall of flames, Ozai seemed almost insulted by the intrusion. "What is so urgent that you can't wait a moment to be addressed, or. . ." he looked him up and down, frown deepening, "change into proper clothes."

"I need some advice," he said, ploughing forward before he lost his nerve. "It's about Katara –"

"The peasant you brought here without my permission?"

He hesitated, courage crumbling slightly, but continued nonetheless. "Yeah. . . Well, you know I said I like her and want to show her what a great life we have? Well, it turns out she's too upset about me taking her here to bother giving me a chance, so. . . I was wondering if you might be able to help me decide what to do."

"I told you what I think of that girl already – you should be able to hazard a guess at what I think you should do with her."

Letting his father's words sink in, Zuko avoided the older man's gaze, instead focusing on the red and gold tapestry that hung above the throne, just out of reach of the surrounding fire. Everyone was telling him to give up, give in, get rid of Katara. She didn't want to be around him, and they (well, some of them) didn't want Katara around.

But it had been hard enough letting go of her in Ba Sing Se, when he knew her only as Jet's girlfriend and the Avatar's waterbending teacher, most of his direct contact with her in the form of fights or through the mask of the Blue Spirit. He had thought about her a lot while working in the newly rebuilt tea shop with his uncle, wondering where she was, if she had enough to eat, a place to sleep, if Jet was still treating her well. Worst of all was when his still scrambled-brain would have memory lapses, causing him to not only forget the layout of his room in the palace and what the Avatar's name was (Un? Ran?), but her face would become an uncertain blur and he would spend hours wracking his mind, trying to remember the details.

That, more than anything, was what drove him to leave the comforts of the city in hopes of tracking her down (to do what, he wasn't sure. At least not until he had a run-in with Azula and she miraculously decided to give him advice). It helped that Iroh's plan to be honest with the teashop's manager by telling them they were firebenders had backfired and gotten them removed from Ba Sing Se for "conspiracy to commit treason to the Earth Kingdom and/or bring harm to others".

But what would it be like now that he had lived with Katara? Would the memory lapses persist? How much more would the ache of missing her intensify? Was there anything he could do to ensure her happiness while still allowing him to be with her?

What, more than anything, did Katara want?

'Her friends,' a voice that sounded suspiciously like Iroh's answered in his head. 'The Avatar's well being. An end to this war.'

"Is there anything else you feel the need to discuss?" Ozai asked, pulling Zuko from his thoughts. How long had he been standing there for?

Trying to act casual, he brushed his sopping bangs out of his eyes, asking, "What's the Avatar's condition?"

"He's chained and heavily sedated. I doubt he even knows his name at the moment." He paused, eyed him curiously. "Why do you ask?"

"Uh, Katara was wondering. I'll just. . . tell her he's been sleeping a lot."

As he spoke, Zuko noted a strange gnawing in his stomach. It had started while he was reflecting on Ba Sing Se, and he had assumed it was the thought of losing Katara that had caused it. But it persisted, similar to the feeling he got when he realized how miserable Katara was or thought about what he had done to Long Feng.

Guilt. It was guilt – for what, he couldn't pinpoint, but it intensified to the level of nausea when thought about his better moments in Ba Sing Se, of Jin and the teashop's manager and the regular customers who flirted with him or teased Jet for his frilly pink apron –

'The Comet,' he realized, gut twisting sickeningly. 'They're going to lose everything when the Comet comes and our armies strike.'

"Is something wrong, Prince Zuko?" Ozai asked, still eyeing him suspiciously. "You look like you're about to be ill."

"I'm fine –" these people were going to lose their homes "– I just –" their families could die, just like Katara's mother "– need to change into dry clothes."

Head spinning (why did it bother him so much, so suddenly? He had known their fate all his life), Zuko turned on his heel and left without so much as a goodbye.


Author's Notes: So, yeah, talky-talk chapter in which everyone has drama with everyone. I'm kinda happy to be done with this part, since next chapter is the one I've been dying to write since I started this fic.

In other news, all the conversations in this were majorly hard to write. xP I did the characters justice and no one is obnoxiously OOC. And that Zuko's sudden guilt-tripping is logical.

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Avatar' or any of its characters.