The house at Ember Island was like nothing Katara had seen before. It was secluded, as Zuko had promised, but he hadn't said how big it was going to be. The house was built into the side of a rocky outcrop on the coast with long, winding corridors that seemed to sprawl endlessly out like a very genteel maze. It was disconcerting, being in the holiday home of the Firelord himself. When asked if he was sure they wouldn't be found, Zuko simply said; "No one has been here since my family was actually happy," which was the most depressing thing he could have said, and the rest of them silently agreed to just trust him on this one.

Katara's room was on the west side of the building, on the first floor with views of the gathering sunset over the sparkling azure sea. She couldn't tell who the room might have belonged to if it had been anyone's at all; there were too many rooms for them all to have been claimed by members of the royal family.

She thought Zuko might have claimed his own room, and went to seek him out. She had a strong suspicion that he still had various injuries that were bothering him and now that they had time, she wanted to make sure there wasn't any further damage.

"Can you believe this place?" Teo grinned, wheeling around the corner with Haru and the Duke. He nearly knocked Katara to her back and Haru grabbed her wrist quickly and gave her an apologetic smile. "Who would have thought such a big house would be so quiet?"

"I like it," The Duke grinned devilishly. "We're hiding right under the Firelord's nose."

"Adding insult to injury." Haru agreed before looking back at Katara. "Are you looking for Aang?"

"No, actually," Katara lifted her hand dismissively. "I'm looking for Zuko."

"Zuko?" Haru gave her a searching look, before looking back over his shoulder. "He's not upstairs. I think he was lurking in one of the big rooms downstairs."

"Lurking?" Katara asked, amused, and Teo shrugged.

"I mean, he's a bit… you know…" He glanced around. "... He's very Fire Nation." The Duke nodded in deep understanding and Katara felt her eyebrows lower at the implied insult.

"Zuko has turned his back on his own family to help us," She said with a glare. "He's just as important to the cause as Aang." The younger boys looked a little chastised at her words and looked to each other guiltily but Haru frowned.

"I know you guys have gotten close to him, but you have to remember," He narrowed his eyes a little. "His banishment has taken him out of the line of succession, but our victory guarantees him the crown. He has a lot to gain from being with us- don't think his motives are selfless."

A little stunned at Haru's cold assessment, Katara drew her chin high and planted her hands on her hips. "You have no idea what he wants, or why he joined us," She raised her chin. "We have all suffered through this war. You're not the only one."

Haru looked at her coolly but didn't say anything further. Katara glared at the three of them archly and stalked ahead down the stairs and headed to the main hallway. The walls were adorned with grand tapestries and paintings, depicting great volcanoes and dragons flying over low farmland. The house felt grand and warm, so different to the austere coldness of the capital's palace. She could almost see that beautiful woman from the painting in Zuko's bedroom chasing after her two beautiful children and entertaining a bevy of beautiful guests in this house.

The beginnings of a sunset cast golden shadows along the hallways, and she wondered at the openness of the lower level- the rooms were larger than the more private upstairs areas, and each one seemed to hold a different collection of treasures.

She found Zuko in one of the main reception rooms, it looked like it had once been some sort of study but with low seating for the Firelord to receive important guests and petitions. He was sat by an open window looking down at some scrolls, the sunset caught the edges of the gold embroidery on his tunic and made the crown in his hair flint and flicker.

She paused for a moment, taking in the view. Now that their lives weren't in immediate danger, she allowed herself to enjoy the sight of him- alive, (mostly) unharmed, and here with them. With her. In the rush of the invasion she'd been so focused on surviving and now, here they were. They'd survived.

So why did she still feel like she could die any moment? Her head and heart swarmed with an intense need to feel alive, and she shook her head in an attempt to shake the feeling. "What are you looking at?" She asked softly, and he looked up with tired eyes. The beard was dark and rough, a harsh smear across his jaw, and she itched to scrape it from his face.

Golden eyes turned out to the sea and he rolled the scrolls closed. "Uncle gave me these before we left. A soldier wanted to let us know what my father has been planning."

The exhaustion in his back made Katara smile despite herself; this wasn't a power hungry royal fighting for a throne, but a boy bearing the responsibility of his own birthright as a burden and doing it without complaint. She loved that about him and the fact that the others couldn't see him like this made her sorry for them- they were missing out.

"Can it wait a little while?" She asked and hefted the small washbag. "I'd like to have another go at healing you, and you're in desperate need of a shave… and a bath, come to think of it," She wrinkled her nose in mock disgust and he managed a soft smile.

"It can't wait long," He sighed, but she had crossed the room and was already pulling him up to stand. They headed down a long corridor and Zuko opened a door to reveal a small bathroom. "It used to be the servants' washroom," He explained.

As she prepared the water, Zuko took off his crown and set it carefully beside the sink, letting his hair fall down. She bit back an odd sense of relief as he did so. She had known Zuko was the prince of the Fire Nation, of course. She had objectively known he was royalty. But something had changed when he put on that crown, and when those soldiers had bowed with such sincerity.

He was actually the rightful heir to the throne of the whole Fire Nation. The throne of the very country that for so long she'd viewed only as the enemy. It was a difficult reality to face. The fact it was difficult shamed her. She didn't doubt him... He just felt so far away.

The strange longing feeling lessened with his hair down. "Sit down here," she instructed and paused. "And take off your shirt so I can see what else I'm working with."

He obliged with little more than a slight huff of irritation and a muttered jibe about her being controlling. With his hair down he looked much more like her Zuko. Shaking off the thought, she busied herself with healing the deep bruises and lacerations without teasing him any further. When had she started thinking of him as her Zuko?

"You really are a Master waterbender," Zuko said softly as she moved the water over him.

"Weren't you sure?" She settled for saying haughtily, bringing a trail of water back to the sink with a flourish. He watched her with undisguised jealousy.

"No," He said simply. "I knew."

There was something heavy in the air between them- it felt electric, somehow. Katara set about lathering his beard and trying not to meet his eyes. She felt unsure all of a sudden, like she had when Toph had teased their little routine at the hot spring.

Since she'd seen him don that crown, since the Fire Nation soldiers had bowed to him in the palace where he looked like he belonged, it felt like he was slipping from her grasp. The boy was disappearing to give way to the heir. She didn't like it.

"You know Azula was lying, right?" She settled for asking as she tugged the razor up his neck and he let his head fall back as she reached the edge of his jaw.

"Azula always lies," It sounded heavy with repeated use, as though the words came by instinct rather than with any real thought behind them. "About what, specifically?"

"You weren't a 'convenient stopping off point'," Katara said forcefully, tilting his face away and dragging the razor over his cheek. "We didn't know what to do- we tried to wait at the next village in case you managed to escape on your own… we were there for days and it was so horrible not having you there- I'm so sorry. We left you with her and it's all our fault."

Her throat closed and she furiously blinked away tears. Zuko didn't say anything at first, not until she'd finished shaving him and he was drying himself off with an old, tired looking face cloth. Katara could have kicked herself. She felt like he was so far away and here she was, reminding him of all the reasons he had to pull back from them. "You had to leave. I told Sokka to leave if it came down to it. But…" He took a deep breath and the next words were so quiet she had to strain to hear. "I didn't expect to feel like this."

He sounded so lost, so sad. She didn't know what made her do it but she stood in front of him, looking down at him looking up at her and she dipped down to kiss him.

Her hands cupped either side of his face and she pressed her lips to his with an edge of desperation, but after a moment he was pushing her back, away from him and he was looking at her with incredulous, open hurt and it was all wrong.

"What- why would you-?" He trailed off, watching her warily.

"I'm sorry," She whispered, horrified at the tears welling in her eyes. "I didn't mean to."

He stood and held up his hands, eyeing her warily. "No, don't cry Katara-" He made a strangled noise of frustration and dropped his head into his hands. "I'm sorry," With a rush of humiliation, Katara moved to leave but Zuko grabbed her hand, preventing her from getting away. "I know you're trying to just- to make me feel better or something but you don't need to- to…" He shook his head and Katara stared down at him in confusion.

Did he think she kissed him to make him feel better? "That's not-" But the pained expression on his face made her pause, the sentence unfinished. Zuko had been through a lot, and it was selfish of her to try to push something on him that he didn't want. She had taken advantage of the intimacy and closeness they shared. "I'm sorry."

They stood awkwardly, a short distance from each other with matching uncertain expressions. Zuko let her hand drop from his grasp. "No, I am," He said softly. "Anyway, I'm gonna…" He gestured clumsily to the bathtub and Katara flushed.

"Yeah, of course. You get cleaned up," She backed away to the door. "I'll go catch up with the others."

She fled, shame and embarrassment blurring her vision and heating her face. Why had she done that? Well, she knew why she'd done it; she'd thought there was a closeness between them- he'd shared things with her and she'd opened up to him and they'd had all of these… moments together. She'd wanted to keep him close, anchor him to her somehow.

She'd let herself get carried away, read into things that weren't there on his side. She burst outside and fell back against the wall of the house, breathing heavily.

She had to think logically about this; they were in the middle of a war, and realistically she shouldn't be filling her own head with romantic fantasies- it was just like the embarrassing Aunt Wu situation all over again. Also, after the war was over, they were unlikely to even stay in the same country- what was she thinking? He would stay in the Fire Nation and she would return to the South Pole.

There were a thousand reasons Katara shouldn't even entertain the idea of getting involved with him… But here she was. For that brief instant before he'd pushed her away it had felt right, like she was falling into her place in the world. If anything, it had made the small attraction she'd been ignoring (so far) a full blown crush.

But he had pushed her away. She'd forgotten herself, that was all. They were friends, good friends like she and Aang. Katara took a deep breath and resolved to carry on as though nothing had happened. Hopefully Zuko would do the same.

.

The moon's rising boosted her confidence a little, and after spending some time cooling down on the beach, Katara headed back inside to start getting dinner ready. She could remember clearly enough where the kitchen was, thankfully. She could hear a couple of low voices as she approached and found herself faltering.

Aang poked his head out of the doorway and grinned at her. "Katara! I thought you guys could use some help."

Katara willed herself to keep walking and followed Aang back into the kitchen. Zuko already had some basic ingredients sizzling in a large wok and was haphazardly tossing some brightly coloured spices in. Katara repressed a grimace at the sight- without Iroh's guidance on what went well together, she wasn't sure the end result would be quite as good as they'd been able to prepare together on the ship. He glanced up as she entered and quickly looked away, an embarrassed blush spreading over the back of his neck.

Katara felt her own face flame and wrung her hands awkwardly. "Well, it looks like you guys have it covered…"

"Katara!" Aang beamed. "You can help me chop the rest of the vegetables," He tugged her over to the sideboard and stood so she was between him and Zuko, passing her a knife. "I don't think Zuko has any idea what he's doing without your help," He confided with a wink.

She didn't think her face could get any hotter, but Aang misinterpreted the redness of her cheeks and happily fetched her a cup of water.

A sniff. "It might be rice wine."

It was rice wine, and Katara very deliberately put it back down.

Aang happily chatted away as they prepared the meal, oblivious or unwilling to acknowledge the silence of the other two. Once the food was mostly ready, Aang excitedly announced that he would get the others into the main dining room and disappeared with Momo chattering cheerily after him.

Katara snuck a quick glance up at Zuko beside her, only to catch him doing the same. She quickly glanced away before catching herself and turning to face him properly. "How are you doing?"

Zuko let out a low, slow breath and nodded, not quite meeting her eyes. "Better," He said softly. "It's weird being back here."

Katara looked back down, fighting a relieved smile; nothing had to change, he wasn't upset with her or angry at her. "Is it embarrassing being in your old room, staying with all the toys you played with as a kid?" She teased.

Zuko smirked. "I thought Aang would find it more comfortable."

"Oh?" Katara nudged him with her elbow. "You're taking the Firelord's rooms for yourself? Bold move."

Zuko's smile slipped a little but before Katara could ask, Aang appeared back at the door. "Hey, shall I take some plates out?"

"Here," Katara handed him a tray and rummaged in one of the cupboards for some more rice wine and fire whisky. "May as well commiserate in style," She said at Zuko's raised eyebrow.

The mood as they ate and drank that evening was… odd. They all seemed determined to focus on enjoying the night together and not addressing their recent loss to the Fire Nation. Haru and the Duke kept trying to play dice games with Toph, which amuses Sokka to no end.

Teo seemed to be attempting to make friends with Zuko, smiling earnestly as they ate and drank together. Finding the alcohol not at all to his taste, he stuck to the water but Zuko drank relentlessly.

As she sat back and watched her friends enjoy the evening, Katara smiled to herself and idly scratched at Momo's head. She wasn't surprised when Aang approached her, but when he asked to speak with her alone she found herself frowning in confusion.

She stood a little unsteadily, hand tight around her cup of rice wine and Momo leapt to Aang's shoulder. She followed Aang out of the room, trying not to notice the way Zuko's eyes followed them over Teo's shoulder.

"What is it? Are you okay?" The cool night air of the beach was a welcome sensation against her flushed skin, and it brought with it a little more alertness. The rice wine smog cleared a little and she could see now how nervous Aang looked.

He sat down heavily on the sand, back straight, and patted the sand beside him stiffly. "Katara, I have something I want to tell you."

Curious, Katara sat beside him.

The words seemed difficult for Aang to get out, and his eyes skittered away from her, darting over the waves. "Are you in love with Zuko?"

Her heart stuttered. She wasn't sure how to answer that. She tucked her knees up under her chin and looked out to sea with a sigh. "Why do you ask?"

He groaned and let his head fall forwards. "I thought we were meant to be together," he admitted. "I thought I'd defeat the Firelord and save the world and we would be together forever… But I messed up, didn't I?"

"You messed up?" Katara asked, concerned. She put a hand on his shoulder in concern and he rested his own on top of hers.

"When I accepted the Avatar State, and let my earthly attachments go. That's why we're not together."

Katara thought over his words carefully; she didn't think that was why, but she wanted to treat him gently. "Do you regret it?" She asked finally, and Aang sighed.

"No… Wait, yes… No. I'm not sure. What I do regret is… I know that should have used the Avatar State against Azula." He said mournfully. "We were hoping she'd lead us to the Firelord but... she was just toying with us," He scowled and hugged his knees to his chest, looking very young, and very small. "I don't know if being able to access the Avatar state changes anything. We still lost when it counted."

Katara wanted to make it better- perhaps it was just part of her nature to want to fix things for him, but she didn't know how. She couldn't think of the right way to make him feel better about their current situation; her father was imprisoned by the Fire Nation, their friends had followed them into battle and were injured, captured and possibly dead. She didn't know what to say. "You didn't mess it all up," She tried. "We're back to the original plan, right? Master all four elements and defeat the Firelord before the comet comes. You can do it, I know you can."

"And what about us?" Aang asked, and Katara gave his shoulder a squeeze.

"We're still friends," She said gently. "You might have let go your 'earthly attachments' but we'll always be friends. Whatever might have happened isn't worth thinking about- all we can do is make the best of what we have. I think what we have is pretty great, don't you?"

"Yeah, definitely," Aang agreed readily. "I really value our friendship, Katara. It makes me a little jealous, I guess, watching you and Zuko hanging out together, but it's not like it was with Jet." Katara didn't flinch, exactly, when he said Jet's name, but the memory of Jet's death still stung. "I don't know what's wrong with me, I just feel like I've lost a part of myself, you know? Like I don't care as much anymore."

"That's not true," Katara said forcefully. "You do care- remember when we had to leave everyone behind today? You care so much about all of them. You're not less than before, you just understand yourself a little better, and you understand what needs to be done."

"What needs to be done?"

"You have to kill the Firelord."

They looked up to see Sokka approaching with the others, holding one of Zuko's scrolls firmly in hand and with a grim expression on his face. Zuko stood at his side with dark, furious eyes trained directly on Aang's.

"We need to make sure you're ready."


Ok, so we're back on weekly updates now- I've caught up with myself because it's been a big week. I got engaged to my partner of about 5 years so it's all a bit wild! Comments and love are always appreciated! Thank you for reading!