Zuko stared out across the sea. He, Katara, and Appa had been traveling for three days now.

They had found the ship Zuko thought Yon Rha, the commander who killed Katara's mother, to be on. But it turned out someone had replaced him when he had retired. Now they were heading towards his home.

What had transpired on the ship... It had blown him away. Katara could bend people. She could make their bodies movies without the person's permission. He wasn't sure how, but she had done it. The commander had looked agonized and terrified when he was bent back on the floor, trapped by his own limbs.

That was the first time Zuko was scared of the water bender. It hadn't just been that she had bent the guy's body. It had been the rage. She'd never had that look on her face before, that tone in her voice. It was loud, it was quiet, it was dangerous, all at once. She'd threatened death, had caused that man pain without provocation. The Katara he knew (if he even had the right to know her), would never do that. She would have been bothered by the vulnerability, bothered by the fact she was the cause of it. She certainly would not have used a person's own body against them.

It bothered him to see her so emotionless, so destructive. That was not the Katara he had learned to respect.

Maybe this trip was a mistake.

No. Zuko shook his head swiftly. He was right, the Avatar was wrong. For once, he wanted to be the one in the right.

And yet...

He looked back at the girl trying to sleep in a corner of Appa's saddle. Her face was tightened into a frown, her body completely tense. She had been tossing and turning, not able to sleep. It had taken so much to get her to let him guide Appa. He'd almost knocked her off the air bison's head completely, but she yielded before the fighting got too bad. It had taken him three days. He thought the encounter on the ship had probably weakened her resolve on the simple matter of who drove.

He turned back around and faced the vast expanse of the ocean. It seemed never ending. True, he'd lived on a war ship for three years. But he wasn't in control of the ship. Others had the ship in hand. If it failed it was their fault. But they didn't fail. So he'd never had to worry.

But in this case, it was just him and Katara. And Appa too, he decided reluctantly. But currently Katara was asleep, and Appa... He didn't know how he felt about the air bison, or how the air bison felt about him for that matter. He hadn't bucked him off yet, so that was a good sign.

He looked sideways, trying to look Appa in the eyes. "Hey Appa,"

Appa looked sideways, seemingly surprised the loud boy was talking to him.

"Listen, I don't know if there's any hard feelings or not between you and me. I know I don't have anything against you."

Appa faced forwards again without any acknowledgement of what Zuko had said.

What was he doing? Could the animal really understand what he was saying? Everyone acted like he could, but what proof did they have?

Still... This felt necessary.

"Listen, I don't know how much you understand about me, but I know that animals are smart and instinctive. And I do remember you defending Aang and me trying to get through you. So I want to say sorry for trying to hurt Aang, and for hurting you when you got in my way. I thought you acted admirably."

Appa continued flying as if nothing happened. Zuko felt a little unsure of himself still. "Well anyway, thanks for not bucking me off of you. I can only guess how annoying it is to carry a spoiled prince like me everywhere."

"It's annoying just to be near you, actually."

Zuko started suddenly at the sound of Katara's voice. He looked back to see her sitting behind him at the front of the saddle."Oh... uh hi Katara... Did you hear that whole thing?"

"Yep." She said laughing a little. "I think it's sweet that you feel like you need to apologize to an air bison."

"I feel like I need to apologize to everyone. I haven't exactly been kind to many people."

"You don't have to tell me that."

"I know. But..."

An awkward silence swept them up.

"Hey, Katara..."

She sighed heavily, "Are you going to ask how I did that to that man back there?"

"You don't have to tell me. I'm just curious."

"I was taught how to bend blood."

"Oh. How?"

"An old lady we ran into. She was crazy. I didn't want to learn. But when did she did it to me, and then threatened Aang and Sokka, well, I used it against her. I can only do it on a full moon."

"Ah."

"Tonight was the first time that I've bent blood since then. I hate it. I don't think a human should possess such power."

"Then why did you do it tonight?"

"Because... because he killed my mother! Because he deserves it."

Zuko wasn't convinced by that "logic". But who was he to argue?

An awkward silence fell over them then. It was very nerve wracking, but neither had any idea what to say to change it.

Katara broke the silence all of a sudden, "So about the other night at the spring..."

Suddenly, partly because he really did see land, and also partly because he had begun to panic at that change in subject, Zuko interrupted her. "Katara, I see land!"

"What? Where?" She said, her words a bit broken.

"Dead ahead. We should reach it within the next few minutes."

"Oh! Great, Appa can finally get some rest!" Her voice sounded a little too high.

"We can just camp out for the rest of the night and go to Yon Rha's village in the morning." Zuko said, also sounding shaky.

"Great." He looked back to see Katara's face hardening with resolve at the mention of the commander's name. The topic of their dissension seemed to have been shoved aside in her brain. Zuko breathed a sigh of relief.

They would have to talk about it eventually, but not now. Not during this trip. He couldn't let himself forget what they were doing here.

He flew over the coast and looked out for a nice clearing. This trip was not about bonding or touchy feely things. This was about Katara getting revenge on her mother's murderer.

The memory of Katara snarling and heartless as she contorted the unknown commander's limbs into painful distortions popped into his brain. He felt his insides twist and heard the alarm bells go off in his brain.

That wasn't her. Katara was good and kind and loving. How could he be taking her to this? To kill? Was this really the right thing?

Zuko wasn't sure anymore.

Sorry this took a few days! Things got busy! Hope this makes up for it!