Chapter 12

Sokka and Aang arrived ahead of schedule just before noon the next day. They had barely set down on the palace grounds before they found themselves surrounded by guards and aides. A servant took Appa's reins from Aang's hands, and two guards hurried the young men inside to Iroh's office. It regent Fire Lord was in the same place they had left him nearly a week earlier, hunched over his desk, poring over papers spread across his desk. He looked up when the guards escorted in the new arrivals and stopped the pair in their tracks.

Iroh seemed to have aged in the few days the Gaang had been gone. The lines around his eyes were much deeper, and the hair around his temples had gone from iron grey to a snowy white. Iroh's entire body seemed to be stuck in the middle of a heavy sigh. Aang lowered his eyes and fought back a wave of shame. Iroh straightened up and dismissed the guards who had brought them.

"What news do you have?" he asked without preamble. Sokka stepped forward with a grim look on his face.

"We think we've figured out Ozai's plan," he said. Iroh blinked in surprise.

"What does that mean?" Then Iroh noticed that Sokka and Aang were alone and frowned. "Where are the others?"

"They…didn't come back with us," Aang replied hesitantly. Iroh's eyebrows drew together in confusion.

"Why?" Sokka sank into a chair and ran his hands over his face.

"Because Ozai's troops have split up." Iroh's shoulders sagged and he sat down across from Sokka and motioned for Aang to take the free seat.

"I see," he said. He pursed his lips, and stared blankly at his desk. Then he looked up again. "Are you hungry?"

"Not really," Aang answered. Sokka shrugged indifferently. For once, his infamous appetite was gone. Iroh rang for a servant.

"I'll order us something anyway," he insisted. "Something tells me that we are going to be here for a while."

Less than twenty minutes later, a servant wheeled in a tray of tea surrounded by sandwiches, tarts and other light snacks. Sokka's missing appetited came back with a vengeance and he quickly piled up a plate full of food. Aang picked up a watercress sandwich and nibbled at it absently. His stomach was still knotted, and every time his mind wandered back to his friends, still in the northern mountains, the knots got tighter. Finally, he gave up trying to eat and poured himself a cup of tea instead.

Sokka launched into a report of what the team had managed to find before he and Aang had come back to the capital. Iroh laid out a copy of a map of the area and tracked the troops' movements along with Sokka's recount, adding details that hadn't been on the map before. He marked the town where the defecting soldiers had been gathering and made a note to send his own soldiers. He hadn't known about the opening to the tunnel in the area and asked Sokka to give him as much detail as he could on it.

"Zuko and Katara could give you better details," Sokka explained with an apology. "They were actually there when it was opened." Iroh nodded and made another note. Sokka went on and told Iroh about the discovery that the soldiers had split up; one continuing north, and the other turning west towards the sea. Iroh looked up with a question on his face.

"We're not completely sure," Sokka admitted, " but we think they may be planning an attack on the capital's harbor." Iroh's pen stopped in his hand and he stared at Sokka for a long moment. Finally he sighed and set his pen down.

'My brother," he muttered. "He is as cunning as a speckled stone viper."

"Why would the soldiers have split up?" Aang asked. His companions flinched slightly, as if they had forgotten he was there. Aang blushed a bit, but sat up straighter. "Could Ozai be going to the north instead of the sea?" Iroh recovered himself quickly and responded,

"It's possible. When a Fire Lord is defending his throne, it's traditional for him to go out with his defenders. But since Ozai no longer has his bending, he may wait until he feels the capital is secure. Although…" Sokka and Aang leaned forward in their seats.

"Although what?" Sokka pressed. Iroh stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"It could be that he knows that he's being followed and simply split the soldiers to throw us off." Iroh frowned. "You didn't tell me what the others are doing. Why didn't they come back, too?"

"They wanted to keep an eye on what Ozai's men are doing," Sokka explained. "They hope they can figure out where exactly Ozai is." Aang saw the worry on Iroh's face and added,

"They promised to stick together." Iroh chuckled without any hint of humor.

"Did they really?" he asked. "Have you ever met those stubborn mule oxen?" Aang's face fell, but Sokka didn't look nearly as surprised.

"They promised to stay together unless it was necessary to split up," he said. He hunched over and rested his forehead on clasped hands. Aang reached out a tentative hand and placed it on his friend's shoulder. Iroh stood up and came around to the front of the desk. He looked kindly at the two young men.

"I am sure they will be fine," he said with more cheer than he felt. "We should prepare ourselves to defend the harbor." Iroh sighed. "We will have to be ready to present a plan this evening at the latest. Gentlemen, let's get to work."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Katara and Zuko were once again walking in silence. This time she set the pace while Zuko trailed a few yards behind her. The sun was low in the sky, and soon they would be walking in darkness. The lake was near, Katara could feel it, but so far, there had been no signs of any of the defectors.

"Shouldn't we have seen something by now?" Zuko jumped in surprise at the sound of Katara's voice.

"Um…" he stammered. "I…I'm not sure. Not necessarily if they are staying underground…but…" Katara stopped and turned to face him.

"But…?"

"Unless they knew we were following them," he said tapping his chin- Katara noticed the beginning of a beard for the first time and glanced away-, "I don't think they would stay underground the whole time." Katara pursed her lips and faced in the direction of the lake.

"Are we close to any of the tunnel openings?" she asked. Zuko shook his head.

"The closest one is about another half mile from here."

"Good." Katara dropped her bag and dug through it. She pulled out their spyglass a moment later. Zuko watched her expectantly. She explained, "You have a point. They probably won't spend their entire time underground, but if they're being careful, they may wait until night."

Katara led the rest of the way to the shore of the lake. It was even bigger than Katara expected. The map didn't do justice to the scale of it. Katara couldn't see the far shore, although she could just make out the outlines of distant mountains. It looked for all the world that they were standing on the edge of some landlocked sea.

"I've never seen a lake this big," she whispered in awe. Zuko nodded.

"I thought it was an ocean the first time I saw it," he told her. "It's almost five hundred miles long, and two hundred miles wide. There are a few villages here and there, but it gets too cold in the winter for anyone to settle here permanently."

"As cold as the Water Tribes?" Katara asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Almost," Zuko replied. "The water is always cold. Too cold to swim in for long, even in the summer. Katara heaved a sigh. She really hadn't been prepared for this.

"How are we going to find anyone here?" she asked hopelessly.

"We're close to an entrance," Zuko assured her. "It's only about two miles from here. If they've really come this way, we'll spot them." Katara stared at the endless shore line dubiously, but took Zuko's word for it. She led the way to the edge of the water where the pair found a promising clump of watery weeds. Katara bent some of the water out of the way and froze it, giving them a circle of minimally muddy ground to sit on out of view of any potential passersby. The night wasn't warm enough to make sitting by ice a pleasant prospect, but it was better than sitting in water all night.

"We might be here a while," Katara said, settling in. "I'll watch first."

"Alright," Zuko agreed with some relief. "I'll set up camp." Katara spun towards him.

"No fire," she warned. Zuko favored her with a deadpan gaze and slid silently into the darkening shadows of the woods. Katara stared after him for a moment before lifting the spyglass to her eye and peering along the shoreline. The last dying rays of sun were disappearing over the horizon, but she knew the moon would be bright enough to see by. She glanced back over her shoulder a couple of times, but she couldn't spot Zuko. She settled into her post feeling relieved. Not for the first time that day, she wished she had gone with Suki or Toph instead.

There was no sign of movement. With a sigh, Katara shifted into a more comfortable position and munched on some jerky from her sack. As the last of the sun's ray disappeared and the first stars appeared in the sky, the air cooled. It was just uncomfortable enough for the prospect of spending hours in her makeshift post to make Katara crankier. With nothing to catch her eye through the spyglass, Katara's thoughts turned back to Zuko and his earlier confession.

Of all the idiotic things for him to say! she fumed. It meant something to him? He picks now to tell me? Katara forced the air slowly out of her lungs and breathed in deeply and turned her focus back to the lake shore.

It turned out she didn't have to wait as long as she feared. Katara had been sitting at her post for just over two hours by her count-not even halfway into her watch- when she saw the first glimmers of flame on the far-side of the lake. Only one or two at first, but she trained her spyglass on the stretch of shore and waited. A few minutes later, she was rewarded with the sight of a few clusters of fire light moving through the woods. Katara snapped the spyglass shut and scrambled to the edge of the trees.

"Zuko," she called into the shadows. Zuko almost seemed to materialize at her side, but for once, Katara was expecting it. He had a slight frown on his face.

"What if someone had heard you?" he scolded her.

"If anyone was near-by you would've seen them already." Katara rolled her eyes and led him back to the lake. She handed him the spyglass and pointed across the water.

"Look," she instructed. Zuko held up the glass and trained it on the area of shore Katara directed. He stared at the flames peppering the trees for a moment, and then snapped the spyglass shut.

"We should head over," he said. "It shouldn't take more than an hour to get there. We go, see how many are here, and head back." Katara nodded and retrieved her sack. Her stomach gave an odd turn and she took a shaky breath in to calm herself.

"Let's go."

Katara followed Zuko through the dark wood. The moon began to reach its height as they made their steady way closer to where they had spotted the flames. It lent the pair some much welcomed light, but Katara was all too aware that it made them visible, too, in spite of their dark clothes. Zuko nearly glided over the leaves, Katara noted enviously. He barely made any noise. By comparison, Katara felt like a clumsy bull-mule, and she tried not to wince when the leaves and twigs crunched under her feet. Thankfully, she didn't seem to be drawing any attention. Katara frowned.

"Why is it so quiet?" she murmured. Zuko glanced back, and Katara saw him raise his eyebrow in the moonlight.

"Quiet?" he scoffed.
"Aside from me, smart aleck," Katara said witheringly. "Where are the guards?" Zuko froze and listened. It had been a long time since he had heard any guards, he realized. The only sound to be heard was the wind blowing through the trees. Except…

"That isn't right," Zuko whispered. "We're close, I'm sure. There should be a patrol." Zuko listened harder for a moment, regretting the decision to split the group up. They may have been discovered. They could be walking into a trap. "Keep close and stay focused." Katara nodded and shifted her gaze to the trees.

The patterns the moonlight was making through the leaves were strange. Some of the leaf patches looked solid instead of dappled. Katara blinked a few times and looked in the trees again. It wasn't a trick of her eyes, there were things hanging in the trees. Katara signaled for Zuko to stop and pointed to them. Nodding Zuko motioned for Katara to wait in some bushes while he climbed up one of the trees. Katara slid as silently as she could into the shadows and drew some water from the skin at her side.

Zuko was as quiet ascending the tree as he had been on the ground. Katara tried to watch him, but he blended too well with the shadows. Katara turned her gaze instead to the tree tops. There was something strangely familiar about the shapes, but she couldn't make it out in the dark. The wind shifted then, and Katara could smell something putrid in the air. Katara's eyes widened a split second before she heard Zuko's startled gasp and then the soft thud of him jumping from the tree behind her. Horror welled up in her chest as she realized what the objects hanging in the trees were.

"Aahg-" Zuko's gloved hand cut off her scream. He spun her around towards him so she wouldn't see the gibbetted bodies swinging in cages in the branches above them. His eye reflected the shock and revulsion Katara was sure was in hers.

"We have to stay calm," Zuko said. His voice was so low Katara almost couldn't hear him. She nodded and did her best to take a deep breath, but now that the breeze had shifted, she could taste the stench of the fetid corpses. Zuko went ahead and Katara managed to keep up with him with minimal noise. Soon they made it the stretch of water where they spotted the soldiers earlier. A patrol finally came by, and the two hid in the marshy reeds as two soldiers passed nearby.

"The entrance to the tunnel should be over there." Zuko pointed across a small inlet. He glanced at Katara. "Can you get us over there?" Katara looked out across the water and nodded.

"But we're going to have to go under," she told him. "It's too risky to go out in the open." She took a deep shuddering breath. "Zuko, those…those people back there…"

"Don't focus on that," Zuko whispered sharply. "That's exactly why Ozai left them there."

"If he catches us-"

"He won't," was Zuko's firm reply. Katara shook her head.

"No, Zuko, listen," Katara insisted. "We need to have a back-up plan. I have an idea, but… " She shuddered again. She pointed at the sky. "There's a full moon tonight." Zuko looked at her questioningly, but slowly realization dawned on him.

"Katara, no!" he hissed sharply. "I-I can't ask you to do that-"

"It's not your decision to make." Katara met his eyes straight on, cutting off any arguments. Zuko started to protest, but then stopped. He knew it was useless and they didn't have the time. He agreed grudgingly. Katara dropped her gaze from him and took a shallow breath. They pulled on their masks and moved to the water's edge. Zuko followed her into the small parting she had created and slowly they walked out far enough for the water to rise up around them and Katara bent it closed over top of them. Zuko shuddered. It was too much like being buried. He started to make a globe of fire to light their way, but Katara stopped him.

"It'll use up all of our air," she told him. "And it might be seen from the surface." Zuko put out the glow immediately. The light from the full moon just barely reached where they were, and it wasn't enough to light their way, but it kept them from being in total darkness. It would have to do.

They had to be even quieter when they emerged on the other side of the water. The reeds were thinner, so the pair couldn't count on them for cover. Katara took them back under water.

"What do you think?" Zuko asked. Katara turned her eyes up to the surface, chewing her lip worriedly.

"We've got enough to take back," Katara said. "We know where they are. We don't know if Ozai is here, though. That's mostly what we came here to find out."

"I'm pretty sure he is," Zuko told her. Katara frowned, asking for an explanation. "The bodies in the trees. I know you think of the Fire Nation army as cruel enough to do that to its own soldiers, but there are few of even the most ruthless soldiers who could do that to their friends."

"But Ozai is," Katara concluded. In the dim lighting, she could just make out the angry red scar on Zuko's face, and she knew he was right. "Then we got what we came for. Let's go." Zuko nodded.

They both breathed a sigh of relief when they finally reached the other side. They moved quicker this time, and with slightly less care, although a cloud bank had rolled in, blocking the moonlight. While they made their way back to their base, they made plans for the next day.

"We should leave at first light," Zuko suggested. "The longer we're in the area, the more likely we are to be found."

"Too late." Zuko spun round towards soldier almost before he registered the new voice. His twin swords were already drawn. Behind him, he heard the sound of Katara gathering water and smirked behind his mask. Sprits help the men who found themselves in battle with a master water bender by a lake, during a full moon.

Katara struck first, knocking the soldier into a tree with a powerful gush of water. From somewhere deeper in the trees, other hidden soldiers called out a warning to their companions about the water bender. Suddenly the forest was lit up by the fire benders sending a counter attack at the masked figure who seemed to be the biggest threat. Zuko took the advantage and went to engage one of the fighters who had given his position away.

At the lake edge, Katara had gathered enough water around herself to create a multi-armed water body. She was dousing several fires as they started, hindering Zuko's ability to keep track of where the fire benders were hiding, but also keeping the rest of the camp from seeing the lights and joining the battle. Zuko made his way back to her and shouted,

"Make a hole, and let's run for it." Katara nodded and sent two water arms out, and with a mighty push to either side, she froze any soldier caught in her trap where they stood, making a literal hole through their formation. Katara followed Zuko back into the woods, holding the ice as long as she cold as she ran. It didn't last long. They managed to get a few seconds head start before the sound of heavy boots in the brush filled the air behind them. And then, suddenly, in front of them.

Zuko skidded to a stop as the soldiers burst from the trees. They had run into a trap. Zuko swore under his breath. How had they known that he and Katara were there? Or was it just bad luck? Now he and Katara had to fight their way out, the exact thing they had been hoping to avoid.

Katara took a split second to assess the situation. They had left the lake behind, and all Katara had was her water skin. She glanced up at the cloudy sky and shuddered. But the trees would provide extra water. It would be as much as the lake, now half a mile away, but it would do. Zuko crouched down, his swords drawn, to face the soldiers who had surprised them from the front, and Katara stood facing the soldiers behind them. There was only one way out.

The water from the skin split up and froze into deadly sharp icicles. Katara flung them out in an arch, flinching as she heard first one, then another, and another hit their marks. Someone cried out in pain. A fire ball was blasted from the shadows, but met with a wall of water. A soldier noticed that the trees in the immediate area were suddenly browning. She nudged her team leader and pointed to the brown leaves.

"The witch is using the trees!" he called. Zuko heard the warning, but kept his attention on the two soldiers attempting to take his swords from him. Katara, he knew, could handle herself. His goal was to fell enough guards to allow him and Katara to escape. Another fighter joined the effort to subdue Zuko. The prince just barely managed to dodge a flaming fist aimed at the unscarred side of his face. He leapt up, using one of the soldiers as a springboard, and landed in a fighting position with his back to a tree.

Katara was struggling to keep up with the fiery attacks. The problem was, she wasn't getting enough water from the trees to make up for the water that evaporated every time it met with flame. She glanced over her shoulder to see how Zuko was doing. There didn't seem to be anymore soldiers behind the ones he was fighting. Zuko was keeping up with his three attackers, and managing to do it without revealing that he was also a fire bender. Katara detachedly admired his presence of mind to hide his identity, but she wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up. He wasn't gaining any ground. She froze a thick disk of water and swept the feet from under the four soldiers still fighting her-she heard bones snapping- and crouched down with her arms in front of her.

Suddenly the three soldiers battling Zuko stopped. Their eye were the only parts they could move freely. They bulged and spun wildly. Zuko dropped his arms to his sides, the twin swords dangling in his hands. He had only seen Katara do this once. That time she had only brought the man to his knees; now she was forcing three people to march away from their escape route. The soldiers she had knocked down earlier watched her, frozen in horror and unsure of what to do. Despite himself, Zuko felt something like pride welling up. Katara was the most powerful person in this fight, and he was glad that she was on his side.

Zuko did a quick tally of the soldiers there. He knew that Katara had taken at least two of them, by his count, with her icicles earlier. She had knocked those who hadn't been hit by the icicles with the disk, and now she was marching his three assailants to join them. That made six he could see, and at least two of them wounded in the dark. But Katara had been fighting four soldiers. They didn't notice one of the soldiers felled by her disk crawl off into the shadows. This was the soldier who had pointed out the dried out trees earlier. She was the team's archer, and the best archer in Ozai's army. She knocked an arrow and waited for a clear shot.

Pain exploded beneath Katara's shoulder blade. She tried to ignore it, but suddenly she was struggling to breathe.

"KATARA!"

Time seemed to freeze. Zuko's legs refused to work, and he watched helplessly as Katara fell to the ground, with the shaft of the arrow protruding from her back. A burst of flame brought Zuko back to the fight beginning again. The soldiers that Katara had been blood bending were free. He spun round on them in a rage. Only years of Iroh's training and meditation kept Zuko from lashing out wildly. He lifted the twin swords and allowed his flames to envelop the blades. He took a deep breath and channeled his fury into the fight.

Now he wasn't worried about them guessing who he was. Zuko made quick work of first one, then another soldier. They hit the ground and didn't move. The solder who had shot Katara let another arrow fly at Zuko, but it was swallowed up in a burst of blue flame, which then followed the arrow's trail back to the archer. She dropped to the ground, upsetting her quiver. Most of her remaining arrows spilled out. Zuko seemed to materialize out of nowhere and snatched the bow from her, and incinerated it in his hand. Now there was only one more soldier left.

Zuko stalked menacingly back to where he stood. This soldier seemed to be more calculating. He stood over Katara with a hand raised.

"She's still alive," he told Zuko. "Take another step closer, and I'll cremate her." Zuko paused. The soldier smirked at him.

"When the Fire Lord is done with the two of you, you'll wish I had just done you both in. Drop the swords!" Zuko tightened his grip. He just needed another second to think-

THWAK

The soldier's smirk slid away into a confused frown. He looked down and saw long, thin icicle protruding from his middle. Katara lowered her shaking hand and dropped her head as the soldier fell to the ground beside her. Zuko wanted to rush over to her, but he had to take care of the others first. The archer had tried to get away after Katara killed the last remaining fighter, but Zuko caught her almost immediately. He knocked her out and carried her over to the other injured soldiers. Zuko knocked out the ones still conscious, and then tied them all together. He made quick work of it, but every second felt like hours.

Finally he was done. Zuko rushed to Katara's side. She had lost consciousness, and her breathing was labored, but she was still breathing. Zuko gathered her up in his arms and shook her gently.

"Katara, please, wake up," he begged. Katara groaned, but didn't open her eyes. Zuko's breath hitched in his throat. He felt around the wound in her back. He would have to cut the sides to free the arrow. He knew how, was worried that the arrow may have punctured a lung. Katara's breath was coming in short, whistling gasps.

'I have to take the arrow out," Zuko told her. "I have to, or you'll die. Please! Can you hear me?" Katara groaned again and her eyelids fluttered. It was small, but Zuko was so grateful for the movement that he almost wept.

"Okay, stay with me," Zuko whispered. He shifted Katara so she was resting on his shoulder, giving him better access to her back, and pulled out his dagger. He made two small incisions on either side of the arrow's shaft, to give the head room to come out without causing more damage. Then Zuko held his breath as he pulled the arrow out of Katara's back in one quick motion. Katara whimpered in pain. Her fingers grasped weakly at the front of Zuko's shirt.

"It's okay," he assured her. "It's out." Zuko stoked Katara's back to comfort her, but he didn't have much time. With the arrow out of her back, Katara's wound was now bleeding freely.

"I have to cauterize this," he told Katara. "It's going to hurt. I'm sorry." She nodded two times and tightened her grip on him. Zuko heated the tip of his dagger until it glowed and touched it to the gash on Katara's back. She opened her mouth in a soundless scream. Zuko bit the inside of his lips and held her tightly until he was finished.

"I'm sorry," he apologized again. And then again. He set the dagger down and wrapped his arms around her. She was still gasping.

"C-can't breathe," she whimpered. Zuko's eyes widened. Her lung really was collapsed.

"W…water," Katara managed to say. "I can…heal…Water." Zuko looked towards the lake. It was half a mile away, and he wasn't sure if there were any more soldiers coming, but it was Katara's best chance. Zuko stood with Katara in his arms and ran as quickly as he dared back to lake. He passed the site where the soldiers had set up there camp as he emerged at the water's edge. He ignored it and kept walking until he was in the water up to his chest.

Zuko stood there for an agonizingly long time and waited for the familiar bluish white glow of Katara's healing power, but it never came. Katara wasn't responding to the water. Zuko growled in frustration.

"No!" he cried. "Open your eyes! Don't you dare do this to me! Katara!" Zuko pressed his ear first to Katara's mouth, then to her heart. He could still hear it beating faintly, but she had stopped breathing. Desperately, he pressed his lips to hers and forced air into her lungs. That water was bitterly cold, and after a couple of minutes, Zuko's hands and feet began to go numb, but he didn't notice. His entire world had shrunken to the young woman floating in his arms, and his entire existence was to keep her lungs working until she could breathe for herself.

"Please," Zuko whispered again before he took another breath and breathed into Katara's lungs once again.

The clouds passed overhead and the lake was filled with the bright light of the moon. Katara had stopped moving completely. Zuko felt his heart rip in half. An anguished cry welled up in his chest, but he didn't have the strength to let it out. It lodged in his throat and escaped in short, wounded gasps. The moonlight created a halo around Katara. She reminded Zuko of a spirit. His hand curled tightly around her desperately. Katara's face blurred, and Zuko realized he was crying. He buried his face in Katara's shoulder and wept bitterly.

It took a long time for Zuko to realize there was a hand curled around his arm. He pulled away. Katara gazed up at him dazedly.

"Zuko…" she said breathlessly. She reached up and pushed some of his wet hair off of his forehead. Zuko didn't dare move. Katara's hand slipped back into the dark water and she frowned.

"I'm cold," she told him. Then the spell was broken. Zuko realized that they were still chest deep in the icy lake. He rushed back to the shore.

"Zuko!" Katara protested. "Let me down. I can walk." Zuko ignored her and they emerged, soaked to the bone, with Katara cradled in his arms. He raised his temperature until they were both dried. He finally set Katara on her feet, but he didn't let go of her. Katara was confused, but she didn't pull away. She wrapped her arms around him and let him support her.

"Are you okay?" he asked her at last. His voice was thick with exhaustion, relief, and fear. Katara nodded against his shoulder. Zuko sighed and pulled away slightly to look Katara over. Her hair was tangled, and she was covered in dried mud and whatever muck was in the lake. Mostly, she looked tired. Zuko frowned at the circles under her eyes.

"Get some rest," he directed. Katara squared her shoulders and prepared to refuse- there was still too much to be done, and she didn't want to leave Zuko on his own- but then she realized just how much healing herself had drained her. Zuko helped Katara over to a tree and she sat at the base while he went back to the small camp he had passed. There were provisions that he and Katara could use-drinking water, fresh fruit and meat, and medical supplies- but the most important discovery was four ostrich horses. Zuko freed two of them, setting them off deep into the woods, away from the tunnel, where the rest of the troops were gathered. Then he loaded some of the supplies from the camp into the saddle bags of the remaining ostrich horses dumped whatever wouldn't fit into the lake. Finally, he brought them over to where he had left Katara.

She was asleep. Zuko watched her for a moment, studying the shadows the moon cast across her face. He didn't want to wake her. He tied the reins of one ostrich horse to the back of the other, making sure it was secure. Once that was done, he lifted Katara as gently as he could onto one mount, and climbed up behind her. The ostrich horses were not the disciplined, battle trained animals of the Fire Nation army, but they managed to move with minimal prompting. Zuko took them back to where he and Katara had been spying on Ozai's camp earlier. He discovered that it was harder to get off of the ostrich horse with Katara than it had been to get on, but he managed it and set her against a tree.

There were some tall bushes, and Zuko set to hiding the ostrich horses. They grazed at the leaves happily, while Zuko tied them loosely to a tree. That was as much as Zuko could do before exhaustion finally caught up with him. He slumped forward on his feet. He suddenly felt very old. He grabbed a sleeping bag from one of their packs and opened it up like a blanket to wrap around Katara. Then he sat down next to her and pulled her close so her head was resting against his shoulder. He pulled her close and stared out over the lake, tracking the moon's journey across the night sky.