Author's Note:
artsyelric:so, many reviewers have expressed concerns about zuko having killed before. most of these reviewers also say that they DO like it in the context of our story. just to reasure those of you thinking about it and NOT reviewing, i wanted to let everyone know that adding this is just a element we felt fit. it is not meant to change zuko at all. we want the characters to themselves, not go OOC. we just added the element to zuko that was already expressed in his character type.
hope that reassures people, and that you like the story still.
if not, we always read reviews, so if you have thoughts, problems, or if you think we're doing fine and we should stay on this course, please don't hesitate to say so. we won't know what you think if you don't!
Trombe: Well things are winding down but I'm in the home stretch people. I've got a couple of finals left so if we can't update as fast as we would like to...blame artsyelric. I know I do, for everything.
What I Don't Like About You
Chapter 36: After the Rain
Sunlight streamed through the final vestiges of the storm clouds, catching in the remaining raindrops and shattering into sparkling, colorful rays, dancing through the leaves in streams above them.
Katara blinked in the fractured light, coming wearily awake. She smiled at the peaceful setting briefly before feeling something shift beside her. She stiffened. The warm thing she was sleeping with her back pressed against wasn't just the tree trunk. It was Zuko.
With a rush, the memories of the day before came back to her.
Of the man they had killed.
Of the things she had finally told him, and what he had said about her.
Of the scared teen's history.
Suddenly, the dawn wasn't so lovely any more. In fact, Katara felt slightly sick.
Very, very, painstakingly slowly, she detached herself from the dozing prince. It wasn't hard. His arms weren't touching or around her, and none of his body weight was either. She had been the one to initiate all the contact – and that scared her even more. Last night it had seemed acceptable. But out here in the daylight where the cover of the shadows had been it wasn't. Plus, right now, all she wanted was to be left alone, to move, maybe find food. Anything to keep her mind off her thinking about last night.
But as much as she craved solitude, she knew that shifting too fast would wake the prince immediately, and guilt paned across her heart. The boy never slept past sunrise. If he was still snoozing, he must be exhausted. And after everything they had said last night, after all he had done for her on this wild chase, she felt she owed him at least a good rest.
Plus, keeping him asleep would assure her privacy with her thoughts.
Appa gave a small bellow of greeting when Katara finally rose, and she gestured the bison to silence before rubbing his head. Zuko snorted slightly in his sleep, and strain played across his burned features, but he calmed and slept on, much to Katara's relief.
She scavenged for berries and wood. Zuko's fire had burned until he fell asleep, but only because he had been there to constantly feed the flame with his bending. The wood in their make-shift pit would hardly hold a spark on its own now, rain-soaked and burnt out as it was. But Katara was no stranger to camping, and the work was calming, letting her think without dwelling too heavily on matters. Soon she had a fire going, berries collected, and began looking for something to slice the last of their bread with.
It was just as she was pulling not just bread but also the remnants of cheese they had obtained the day before that it finally hit her. Yan Ra was dead. It wasn't his death that hunger over her now, but rather a freeing, justifying feeling that swept over her. A burden she hadn't even realized she held lifted quite suddenly from her chest, and without it she felt lighter than she had in years.
The monster who had haunted her dreams and stolen her childhood was gone forever.
Her mother had been avenged.
Part of her was horrified at herself, at her reaction. She was reveling, rejoicing even, in the untimely death of another human being. Guilt seeped in with the emotions, and shame, and even disgust. But they paled in the bright morning light in a way they hadn't during the previous night's storm. She knew they were still there, still real, and waiting to clutch at her again. She would have to face them, and soon. But for the first time in a long while, she was free.
A deep grunt from the tree told her the sleeping prince was awakening. "Mmm…" He yawned. "I slept late."
Katara felt her lips twitch slightly at his tone. Even in the morning he was reserved and dry. She brushed her hair over her ear as she tending the toasting bread slices she'd place over the fire pit. "I thought I'd let you sleep some more. You looked tired."
"I was..." A moment of Zuko's melancholic face tugged at Katara's heart. Reliving the past was never an easy task, especially ones best left forgotten.
"Would you like cheese on your toast, or berries?" She hoped hunger would eventually win out over their sullen and dry mood.
"Toast?" Zuko yawned again.
"Yeah," Katara agreed. "I figured we may as well eat the last of our bread since we'll be going home today anyway."
"Cheese then."
Katara nodded and dribbled the berries on her own slice, crushing to last of the cheese to finish melting across Zuko's breakfast. Appa let out a deep grumble and Katara allowed herself a small laugh. "Sorry boy," she told the bison, keeping her eyes on her cooking. "We don't have anywhere near enough bread for you." The bison snorted and Katara pulled Zuko's toast off the fire carefully. "You'll just have to eat grass until we get home." Boots appeared in her vision as the prince came to stand next to her and she turned to hand him his breakfast.
Suddenly she felt as if the air had gone from her lungs. Golden eyes met her own, and she felt frozen. Images from last night were flooding back, his words as he spoke of his past echoing distantly in her ears. The eyes blinked and she couldn't break the contact. Vaguely, she was aware his lips were moving.
"I'm sorry… what?" She felt dazed.
He crouched down in front of her, keeping his distance. "I said, thank you for the toast," he repeated.
"...You're welcome." She tried to smile. "Zuko... um... about last night-"
"Don't, Katara. You don't need to say anything." Zuko shifted uneasily. "You were caught up in the moment, I understand." He read her thoughts completely.
No more words were spoke after that. They both chewed silently on their toast and eyed each other, glancing away quickly if the other met their gaze.
How did he do that? Katara wondered. How could he be so... indifferent after every thing he said last night?
Katara's whole take on Zuko was ever morphing, changing beneath her feet like one of Toph's rock-slides. One minute he was strong, protecting her, coaxing her to talk, to depend on him. The next he was wild, raging like an inferno, and acting in her stead where she failed. Then, suddenly, he was sorrowful, deep and unfathomable, speaking of things Katara had troubles imagining, concepts so grown up that even her worldliness held no match.
He would grin at her, and praise her.
Then shout at her and mock her naivete.
And now this strange… uncertainty. They were still talking. Well, kinda. He was still supposedly acting like himself. At least, what he said was very Zuko, and his tone was too. But there was something new now. He was holding back. Not like before, where he had been stiff and closed mouthed, but rather like a nervousness he was restraining. He seemed… hesitant. Awkward, even.
And then there had been last night. She saw it in his eyes again, when he spoke of home. He stopped being that overly strong, determinedly sacrificial person he kept showing her in his quest to be good. The perfection had fallen. He had allowed himself, even just for a small time, to be vulnerable to her.
His guilt.
His shame.
The demons that haunted him still.
All feelings he had shared with her.
she wasn't sure how she had taken it.
She had so many different feelings. Fear, respect, awe, compassion, confusion, and the desire to both comfort him and depend on him simultaneously.
Plus, the revelation that he had admittedly goaded her into this in part to get at her, and in part ignorance. She wasn't sure exactly how much of that she believed. She was sure Zuko would be willing to help her with something personal just for the chance to be with her, but she didn't think he had done anything on purpose. Zuko wouldn't hurt her, would he?
Well, not any more, at least. If she knew anything about him, she knew that.
She just wished she could stop discovering how little she actually did know about him.
Katara swallowed a bite of her toast. With a new day came a new outlook. She was still adjusting to everything, and some things still hurt her to dwell on, but the nightmare she had been living in was over. It was a new day.
"What are you smiling about?" Zuko asked suddenly.
"The weather... actually...I never thought how beautiful it looks after the rain." She flushed as he eyed her curiously.
Then the prince's eyes darted towards the sky, clear and blue. So different from yesterday.
"Yeah...I guess it is." He replied simply.
Okay, maybe obtaining this new outlook wasn't going to be easy. She settled back into her thoughts. There was still a lot to process, but at least she had a positive outlook.
"I think its time we headed back. Don't you?"
"Hmm?...Oh yeah...I am anxious to get back home."
Sighing, she crammed the last of her toast in her mouth. There would be plenty of time to think on the flight back. She was certain she could find a way to move on.
"We're back."
Zuko stirred. He'd been so lazy since he had Appa to fly him everywhere and no Avatar to train. He wanted to stretch his legs, and therefore longed to land again, but he was also a little bit worried about getting back to camp. Things between Katara and him were up in the air. Granted, that was better than fighting, as they had been when they left, but she had been going to emotional fluxes all morning, zoning out constantly, and hadn't said practically anything since they started flying. Not that he minded the silence. Just that…
Well, he was anxious. He didn't really want to confront the fact that he had revealed so much of his dark past to the girl, but he was also aching to know that he hadn't ruined everything by telling her. He knew there was no justification for his actions, for the way he treated people around him, his crew, his uncle, or even his enemies. It was one of the many touchy subjects in his past he usually avoided talking about.
Come to think of it, most of his past was like that…
Yet, talk about it he had. In his exhaustion and shock he had decided it would be courageous to tell her. Now he was wondering if he had made a grave error. He had never spoken about any of those things to anyone except Uncle, and even then he had avoided the conversations. Besides, Uncle was different. He had been there for everything bad in Zuko's life. Zuko didn't have to explain himself, because Uncle was there at the time. With Katara… that had been an entirely different experience.
He regretted it now. She didn't seem to be taking it well. Not that it surprised him. The initial pity she might have shown had washed away just like the rain. Now came what she really thought of him. There was nothing really to take well about it. It was savage, and hateful, and pathetic. Everything Katara was not. Everything he had almost made her become on this trip.
And now, below them on the shore, the small Avatar was waiting, watching them arrive. He would have to answer to both the boy and her brother, and he still hadn't thought of a single thing to say. But he knew he had been wrong. This whole trip had been wrong.
And he wasn't looking forward to the new conversation he now had to have with Aang.
Rival or not, the boy was his friend. Forcing him to bloody his hands was almost as bad as making Katara. He had just escaped that mistake once, and now he had to knowingly do the same thing to child below them, with the pain of his own first kill still fresh in his mind. He wished, just once, it could be someone else's problem. But he was the one already tainted. He would try to ruin as few of his remaining friends as he could.
Appa landed on the beach and Katara slid off him. She seemed to have been shrinking in on herself the whole flight back, and he hoped that wasn't a bad thing. He'd thought being back with everyone would make her feel better again. Maybe it still would. Maybe she was just nervous.
Zuko glanced up the hill towards the camp, where he could now hear the sounds of voices, meaning that Aang, at least, had seen them and was coming to greet them. But the waterbender turned and walked not towards the camp, but away. She crossed her arms over her chest and moved in silence out over the dock, seeking out her element as she had after bloodbending. Zuko knew then that she was still hurt, and felt guilty.
"Katara?" Aang's head popped over the grassy hill, and his eyes met the prince's, warmly, but wearily. "You guys are back?" Zuko grunted and jumped off the bison's back. Aang patted the beast as Appa nuzzled him affectionately, but the brown eyes never left Zuko's. "What happened?"
"We found him." Zuko felt like he was reporting bad news to an especially grim commanding officer, not talking about a trip to his gleeful, twelve-year-old friend.
"And?" Aang pressed, his voice tightly controlled.
Zuko pressed his lips together, and decided. He and Aang had a hard enough conversation ahead of them. He would spare the boy as much as possible. "Katara let him go."
Aang's eyes widened and his face relaxed. "Really?"
Zuko nodded. "I won't lie though. It was close. And… I think she still feels guilty." He took a deep breath. "Perhaps… You should go and talk to her?" It was the closest he could bring himself just then to admitting the boy had been right.
The Avatar seemed to sense there was more to Zuko's words, and nodded, his eyes softening. "I'll do that," he promised, and his voice sounded warmer than Zuko had heard it in days.
With a last smile, the boy ran past Appa, bounding lightly down the beach and onto the dock with steps much to large for a normal person his size. It amazed Zuko how integrated and natural airbending was to the small boy, and how incredibly difficult he found firebending. He supposed, though, that it must frustrate Toph even more.
As Aang ran out towards the end of the dock where Katara sat, her toes dangling just above the water, Zuko sighed, and followed at a more reasonable pace. After all, he was tired, and he could afford to give them time.
"Katara," Aang called as he approached. "Are you okay?"
Zuko winced. He knew Katara wanted to see Aang. She had spoken of him twice before finishing breakfast, but the boy was just so… direct. Absolutely no subtlety.
"I'm doing fine." Katara's voice was as strict as her posture, and Zuko glanced away as he came to a stop a few paces behind the Avatar, letting his eyes feast on the deep orange painting the sky as the sun sank beneath the Fire Nation islands.
"Zuko told me what you did," Aang ploughed on. "Or… what you didn't do, I guess." Zuko had never been one for beating around the bush, but he certainly prayed that Katara liked this kind of directness. Aang put a hand on his head and smiled, even though the girl couldn't see it. "I'm proud of you."
The smile could be heard in his voice though, and it seemed to reach out to Katara. Her back stiffened even more, and she trembled slightly before speaking, just as directly, back. "I wanted to do it. I wanted to take out all my anger at him, but… I couldn't." Her voice rocked between so strong it was almost harsh, and so quiet Zuko feared it might break. "I don't know if it was because I was too weak to do it, or if it's because I'm strong enough not to."
The prince turned his gaze back to her still stiff figure. She had revealed that fear so easily to Aang, while Zuko had needed to fight tooth and nail to drag it from her.
The boy didn't even blink though. He simply nodded. "You did the right thing." He spoke as if he had the final say, and Katara's back slumped forward as she relaxed at his judgment. The Avatar dropped to a knee beside her, and he head sunk even further, as if all the weariness was finally leaving her. She buried her face in her hands as Aang's hand came up to rub circles on her back. "It must have been so hard," the boy whispered. "But don't doubt yourself any more, Katara. You did well, and you're home now."
With a small wail, Katara gripped Aang's shoulders and pressed her face into his smaller frame. Zuko wondered if she was crying. She was still stiff, and looked as if she had run out of tears long ago. But Aang shushed her anyway until she calmed.
Zuko seriously considered turning and leaving then. Annoyance at being a third wheel combated with his desire to stay and see this end for the waterbender, and eventually won out. He was just turning to leave when Katara spoke.
"I feel so confused, still," she whispered.
"Don't," Aang insisted. "Forgiveness is the first step you have to take to begin healing."
Katara straightened sharply out of his arms, her face tightly controlled again, and a small darkness to her eyes. "But I didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him."
"Yes, you will," Aang countered. "I know you will. In time."
Katara turned away and stood, making Aang's arms drop away from her. Zuko could see her eyes now, narrow, and shimmering. Aang stood behind her and rubbed his arm awkwardly. "Maybe… you just need to start with something smaller."
Katara took a deep breath, leaving Zuko a half second to wonder what that meant, before smiling. "I can do that," she agreed. "Maybe I can't forgive him, but…" her gaze soften as it captured Zuko's own confused eyes. "I am ready to forgive you."
She took a few steps towards him on the dock before pausing, just a few feet away at the look on the prince's face. Zuko tried to relax it, but he felt his skin drawing tight. "You shouldn't have to," he grumbled unable to meet her gaze.
"But I do." He looked up again at her insistence, now glad he had stayed through her cuddle with Aang. He wasn't sure if she was talking about the way he'd pressured her to go, the fact that he had indeed killed Yan Ra, his own breakdown the day before, or all of their past, fights and betrayals included. But when he looked at her eyes, the borders between all of his supposed transgressions blurred and faded. The statement because something so general and all encompassing that it nearly overwhelmed him as much as it was seeming to her. It was for everything, for anything, for a fresh beginning. "I do forgive you, Zuko. And… I'm sorry too."
He wanted to tell her not to be. Even though she had acted out of line, or even said and done hurtful things, he had done so much worse. Hearing her apologize like this, when their emotions were so raw and focused was… humbling. His tongue seemed thicker than it should, and the words just wouldn't form. Not wanting to look like an idiot, he nodded, and hoped it would express everything he didn't want to say.
And then, suddenly, his arms were full of Katara. She pressed close against him and held him tightly, like she had when he had finished his story. But this time, he hugged her back. It wasn't forced or awkward, nor was it romantic in the normal sense of the word. But it was intimate, and strong in a way Zuko was unfamiliar with. It was almost like… a mother's. But different too. The element was there, so similar to hugs he had received from his mother, or even once or twice from Uncle. But there was more as well, and he couldn't place it.
"I think it's time we tried this 'being friends' thing for real."
Zuko stiffened at her whisper, and then suddenly pulled her closer. That was exactly it. That was just what he was trying to describe. He smashed his feeling deeper inside him as they welled up. After everything he had said and done, she still wanted this badly to be his friend.
He wouldn't mess up this time.
She finally stepped back out of his arms, and he let her go, trying to hide his reluctance. Her hand stroked his shoulder as she stepped past him in a comfortable manner, and he turned to watch her walk away.
It was only as she was reaching the bank that he remembered he wasn't alone. Aang stepped up next to him, and he realized the smaller boy had been watching her too. He turned to Zuko with a peaceable smile, and Zuko hid a flush that he had witness all of that – even, if he thought about it, been part of its cause. This boy obviously didn't know he was in a battle against Zuko for the girl's affection.
Stamping on the emotions Katara had sent stirring through him, he spared the boy a glance. He had to remember that this kid was his friend too. Aang was his Avatar, his hope, and the first person to see behind his mask and wonder if they could be friends. Aang had been his supporter when Zuko first came here, and believed in him to no end. Because of those things, Zuko had to make this as painless as possible on his innocent friend, regardless of how either of them felt about Katara. He was the boy's teacher, after all.
So he conceded his own realization first. "You were right about what Katara needed. Violence wasn't the answer."
"It never is." The Avatar played right into his hands.
"Then I have a question for you." Zuko turned to face him, the setting sun reflecting off his blue arrow and shaved head. He was still smiling knowingly. With deep regret, Zuko ruined that. "What are you going to do when you face my father?"
"Zuko!"
The prince flinched as Sokka shouted his name. But the blue-eyed warrior didn't seem to notice. He just grinned wider as he rushed over to greet his friend. "You guys are back!"
"Yeah," Zuko agreed.
The prince hefted Appa's saddle off his shoulders as he stopped to talk to his friend. The minute he had freed the great beast from it, the bison had flown off in search of better food than grass. Or maybe to wait for Aang. The kid was still back at the docks, despite the falling darkness. Zuko hadn't wanted to press the Avatar too quickly, so, when Aang didn't answer after a long period of patience from the prince, Zuko had sighed and left him to his thoughts.
Sokka's eyes locked with his, intensely. "How did it go?"
"Katara's fine," Zuko promised. "It's over. Permanently."
Sokka didn't pry any further than that. One way or another he knew what Zuko meant.
"...Good. Maybe she can finally ease up on herself." Sokka smiled sadly.
"I hope so." Zuko shared the sentiment. "Katara should already be up here - haven't you seen her yet?"
"Naw," Sokka denied, his intense attitude gone. He accepted Zuko's words at face value, and moved forward, unconcerned. He glanced towards the girl's tent, drawing Zuko's eyes with his. "But I'm sure she's with Suki and Toph. I can see a candle in the tent."
"So can I," Zuko drawled. "I'm wondering why you don't know. You have been here, haven't you?"
"Lay off, hot-man," the younger boy dismissed him, holding up a rope with three dead gopher-moles strung on it. "I've been hunting!"
"Did we run out of food again?" Zuko groaned.
"Yeah, well, we go through it pretty fast with all these extra mouths to feed!"
"You mean your mouth," Katara's voice cut across the grass. She and the other girls had emerged from the tent and were making their way across camp to join the boys. "Don't I get a welcome home?"
"Katara!" Sokka grinned, rushing to embrace his sister, who stopped him with a firm hand.
"Ewww, no. I changed my mind." She pinched her nose as she glanced at her brother. "Put the gopher-moles down first, then go wash, and I'll think about giving you a hug."
Sokka grumbled, but Suki pressed a kiss to her fingers, and then Sokka's cheek, keeping her whole arm span between herself and her stinky boyfriend. "Leave the meat," she smiled. "I'll cook it for you."
Sokka's pouting face brightened at the combo kiss and food offer from his girlfriend. "Deal!" he agreed, and darted off rapidly to clean up.
Zuko sighed and went to unpack while the girls got the cooking under way. Soon the delicious smell of roasting meat was wafting through the tent and making Zuko's sudden hungry stomach grumble. As delicious as smoked cheese-bread was, one peice of toast was hardly enough to fill the still growing prince for very long, and he and Katara had missed lunch.
Once Zuko had his mat lain out, however, he stopped. There was no point in unpacking any further. The thought had hit him, and the minute it did he new it was true, that they couldn't stay there much longer. With his and Katara's venture, the gang of kids had already been in one place too long, and not moving meant waiting for Azula to catch up. Zuko wondered dimly if they had once thought the same thing about him.
He sat down to think, crossing his legs and breathing slowly, as if in meditation, while he organized his thoughts. They couldn't keep moving all the time. Safe places were few and far between, and no where was safe for long. But he needed to work with Aang seriously, he saw that now more than ever. He had waisted too much time, and Aang was too far from being ready to face his father. Zuko needed to fix that, fast. They definitely needed somewhere safe they could stay for more than a few days. Preferably somewhere with food, he added with a thought for Sokka's appetite.
"Zuko?" The prince started out of his thoughts as Suki tapped against the rock beside his tent. He pulled open the flap and she started before smiling a bit awkwardly. "Um... dinner."
"Thank you," he stated, noting that the girl was still uncomfortable around him, and wondering if he had the strength to go through dealing with another strong woman who hated him, and what it would supposedly take if he did desire to befriend the Kyoshi maiden.
Not wanting to think about it he returned to his original train of thought.
As he followed the fan wielder, he cast about in his mind. The Fire Nation was his home. Surely there had to be somewhere in it he knew to hide that his family didn't. But alas, every place in the Fire Nation he had been before being banished had been either within sight of the palace (a bad place to take the Avatar) or in the company of his family. It wasn't exactly like he could just waltz into the palace and hide Aang in his bedroom after all. Zuko no longer really had a home there, any more.
Home. The word tickled his mind tantalizingly. Not because he wanted to go back there, but because he felt something about it was eluding him...
"I don't care if you're blind!" Sokka was screeching as he and Aang came up the hill to dinner with Toph. "You can't come up behind me when I'm bathing! Suki!" he appealed to his girlfriend. "You tell her!"
But Suki just laughed and tweaked her boyfriend's nose. "She has a point, Sokka," Suki admitted. "What you can't see can't hurt you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" the dripping warrior asked suspiciously as Toph guffawed.
Only once Katara had handed Sokka a plate with stew and some not quite stale bread did he silenced his protest. Aang accepted his without a word and sat down to eat it, though he did smile and chuckle at Sokka's antics. Toph demanded food, and snatched the next plate from Katara, not waiting for Suki before piling it in her mouth. The older girl smiled as Toph chowed down, and Zuko noted dimly that Suki and Toph seemed to have an interesting relationship. But then he shook his head and forced himself to return to the task at hand.
"Sokka," he spoke up, knowing that Aang would make the final decision, but not wanting to press the Avatar just yet. "Please tell me you've thought of where we're going next?"
"Oh, I've thought," Sokka mumbled around a mouthful of food. He swallowed. "I just haven't thought of anything useful."
"What's that mean?" Katara prodded, taking a seat with her own food.
"Katara, did I ever tell you how much I missed your cooking?" Sokka asked, with a secretive glance around the campfire. "Toph stinks," he whispered.
"I heard that!" the blind girl shouted, punching Sokka roughly in the ribs. "However... he may have a point. I do really suck at cooking!"
Suki giggled, and Aang snorted some food. Apparently that was an understatement.
"So," Katara repeated. "Where are we going next?"
Sokka sighed. "We need to be somewhere near the Fire Nation if we're still planning to take some course of action before the comet, but there's really no where safe here to hide. And if we go somewhere like the North Pole or Kyoshi Island, it's only a matter of time until the raiders find us and burn more villages." Suki's face tensed. "No, we're better off staying here, tucked up somewhere right under the Fire Lord's nose, so close he won't be looking for us."
Zuko blinked. He was dimly aware of Toph protesting that the Fire Lord was already looking for them in the Fire Nation, and wondering how much further up his nose the had to crawl. But none of that mattered. He had just had an excellent idea.
"Ember Island."
The group stopped talking to stare at him.
"You mean that vacation spot all the rich Fire Nobles want to go to?" Toph asked.
"Yeah," Zuko agreed. "That place."
It was all coming to him so fast now, he was surprised he didn't see it before. He did have a home that was still somewhat safe. And it was everything Sokka wanted it to be, plus food...
Sokka scratched his head. "Why would we want to go there? Won't camping out be rather difficult in such a populated place?"
"No, that's exactly it though," Zuko insisted. "It's so touristy. People come there all the time, from everywhere, so no one really knows each other. I spent a whole week there with Azula, Ty Lee and Mai just, like... a month ago. No body even recognized us! And if they didn't recognize the royal family, even with this," he gestured harshly at his face, "there's no way they'll recognize anyone else. We wouldn't have to hide - we could blend in. Plus, my father has a home there. We could stay in my Ember Island house."
"What?" multiple voices protested in unison, but Katara got off the next words faster, overriding everyone else. "You want us to stay in the Fire Lord's house?"
"But it's exactly like Sokka was saying," Zuko insisted. "It's the last place he'll ever look."
Katara opened her mouth to say something else, but Sokka's hand flew up to silence her as he stroked his chin. "No, wait! I think Zuko might be on to something... Hiding there will be completely unexpected, so brazen no one in their right mind would do it." He grinned. "I like it."
Katara crossed her arms as she stared between the two determined young men. She didn't seemed to really be opposed to the idea, but neither was she as excited as the others. Finally she sighed and her eyes darted to the Avatar, obviously knowing where the final decision lay. "Aang?" she asked simply.
The Avatar smiled tiredly. "Well, it would be nice to sleep in a bed..."
Katara lay back, happy to be home. Aang had helped put everything into perspective. So things in her life weren't perfect. Who was she to complain? She could only do her best, and had to be happy with that. She had done right with Yan Ra, and she would never have to see him again. And she would do right with bloodbending too. Now she needed to concentrate on helping Aang. It was, as it had always been, her job.
With that resolve, she had her feet back on the ground. She had also, finally, come to terms with Zuko. Not a simple desire to be his friend, but real terms with it. There was still much about him she didn't know, and she hoped, someday, to learn it. But she understood him better, and knew that as time went on she would get to understand him more. She was no longer scared by his feelings for her either. Certainly they made things... awkward... and he did place an awful lot of trust on her... But she had determined that the boy needed a friend very much. The confused desperation he had been showing all day, even through their hug, was simple proof. She would do her best for him, just like she would for Aang, and eventually things would be all right between them.
Naturally, there was still plenty to worry about; Sozin's Comet, her father, the war, Aang's training, Azula finding them, etc. But all those things were things she could handle again - or, at least, things she had become accustomed to handling. She just had to keep her faith that things would come out right in the end, and keep fighting to make sure they did. If she did that, it would be okay. It just had to be.
"What's got you so happy, Sugar-Queen?" Toph asked, a teasing smile on her lips. "Have a good little get away with his highness?"
"Ooh, someone's a little jealous," Katara bit back, in too good a mood to let Toph's antics dampen it. She knew the girl was only playing, and while she was never very good at it, she wanted to strive to play back. "Plus, I don't think Zuko would be too fond of that new nick name."
"He doesn't really care what I call him," Toph waved dismissively. "Can't get a rise out of that guy for the life of me!" She grinned wickedly. "All the more reason to try then, right?"
Katara couldn't help but smile back at the girls antics. She normally disproved of them, but she realized she had been missing this happy, family environment a bit. Toph was just the disrespectful, dirty daughter Katara couldn't civilize, and her plotting grin was simply further proof of her pride in that role. "Fine, have your fun," she surrendered. "But don't be too mean, Toph. He's just starting to come around, and we wouldn't want you to scare him off."
"Wouldn't dream of stealing your job," Toph teased. "But you do have a point. Princy seems to be getting more used to us every day, and he's been more open since he came back from the trip with you. He and Twinkletoes had a long talk, and I know the two of you hugged for a while on the dock." Katara face flushed again, and this time Toph seemed away despite her absent eyesight. "What did you two do?" she added suspiciously.
Katara opened her mouth to protest the girl's accusation when a soft knocking came from the tent entrance. "We're decent, Princy," Toph called out, obviously knowing Zuko was about to walk in with her earth sense, and she smiled bigger as Katara's face flushed deeper, the little backstabber. "Come in!"
The waterbender struggled in vain to wipe the deepening red from her cheeks when Zuko ducked through the tent flaps with a dignified cough and ducked slightly to fit beneath Katara and Toph's low ceiling. He caught sight of Katara, whose cheeks were a fiery red, and his own face began to color. "Hey."
"Welcome," Toph smiled merrily. When he didn't continue, the girl gratefully ended the awkwardness she had created, and Katara took back her curse reluctantly. She was definitely mischief incarnate, but possibly still a few steps shy of a backstabber... Possibly. "Did you need something?"
Zuko glanced around once, then suddenly folded his legs and sat squarely on the center of Katara's mat, holding out his arm stiffly. She blinked at it and looked up at him. "I'm... sorry?"
"...My hand still hurts," he said simply, as if that would explain everything.
Katara eyed him. She knew he hadn't been using his dao swords as well because he hadn't asked her to heal it, and part of that was on her. She had been too upset to do more than a preliminary treatment the first night, and then too angry at him to continue treatments after that. However she refused to ask him about it. If he intended to be so stubbornly strong as to not ask for help, she wasn't going to force him too.
If he wanted her to heal him, he could at least say it clearly. All he needed was a push. Or in this case a pair of waterbender eyes on him.
After looking at her set expression, he realized what she wanted, and glanced quickly at Toph. Apparently he was still uncomfortable with asking for help, and didn't want to be made to do it for the first time with a witness. Especially one they knew would be all too willing to tease him forever. Katara was just about to relent, happy he had come at all, when Toph figured out what was happening and cut in.
"Ah, give him a break, Sugar-Queen. He's a prince, not a beggar."
Zuko smiled gratefully at the earthbender, and Katara huffed, slightly surprised that Toph had apparently taken her advice not to be too cruel to Zuko to heart. "I didn't say he had to beg. A simple 'please' would have been nice though..." Toph gave her a tooth grin and ducked behind the divider they had erected in the tent.
"Then... how about I trade you for it," Zuko offered gruffly.
"What could you possibly have that I would want?" Katara mocked in a teasing manner, taking his hand and bending some water from her pouch.
"Another question."
Katara glanced up quickly, but Zuko was looking pointedly away from her, his face flushed. Had he really just offered to tell her about his past? "Zuko, I-"
"Only if," he cut her off, "it's still... that's... um, still important to you. To know, I mean."
Was he asking to be let off the hook? No, Katara didn't think so. He wouldn't have offered if he wasn't willing. She glanced back at his hand. "I think I should tell you first that since this hand has gone so long, it has already started scaring a bit. It's going to take more than one healing session. I think..." She glanced up and he met her gaze. She took a deep breath before continuing. "I think if I can work on it once a day for the next week I can get your fingers back their flexibility."
Zuko blinked.
"I know, it's a lot-"
"You think you can make them work just like before?" he asked.
"Yes," she agreed. "But, like I said, it will take more than just one sitting," She looked him once more in the eye, much like a healer would ask of her patient.
"Okay." The prince nodded. "Whatever you feel is necessary."
Zuko being complacent struck Katara as sort of strange. But after everything they went through she was willing to try and accept everything he was.
"Ok, then. I guess we should get started. And about your offer..." She leaned in closer to whisper. "I'll ask you later, maybe?" Katara offered. "When the walls don't have dirty little ears."
"Hey, my ears aren't dirty!" the blind girl's voice drifted across the barrier. "Just the rest of me. Besides, his royal majesty could have a pig's face, and I wouldn't know. What do I care if he's a Scar-Face?"
Zuko scowled and yanked the cloth divider down so he could see the sloppy noble-woman. "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't call me that."
"Oh, does your new nickname bother you, Scar-Face?" Toph cooed in a baby voice that added way more 'w' sounds than were necessary for the words. "Good," she concluded in a more normal voice. "Then I've finally found one I like."
"You can't call me that," Zuko protested.
"And why not?" Toph blinked.
"What if I called you milady?"
Toph's eyes widened in mock affront. "You wouldn't dare!" she cried, jumping to her feet.
"Try me."
Zuko's lips quirked as he gave a half-bow from his seat, making the motion large enough to Toph's earth senses to detect. "As you command, milady."
Katara felt a laugh force it's way out of her mouth in an undignified snort as Toph's face turned an angry shade of red and she launched herself at the prince, who yanked his hand away from Katara to defend himself from the Earth Rumble Champion's tiny little fists and feet. Despite the fact that it was rough housing, it was the first time Katara had ever actually seen Zuko at ease with anyone else, and the prince seemed to be surprisingly into it.
Moments later the much larger bender finally freed himself of the raging child and pushed her to the ground with annoyance. Katara realized they were actually bonding in a strangely boy-ish way - wrestling, and knew immediately Toph wouldn't stay down for long.
"Zuko!" Katara reprimanded quickly. "I am trying to heal that hand. Will you please take it off of Toph's disgusting foot and give it here?"
Zuko sighed and released Toph, who promptly kicked him in his shoulder and scrambled away with a huffed, "I'll get you for that, Scar-Head."
"I thought it was Scar-Face?" Zuko frowned, and Toph laughed once more.
"I'll call you what I want, Scar-Head," she mocked.
"Will you two stop it already?" Katara tried very hard to keep her own grin off her face. "This isn't exactly an easy thing to do, and you two are just making it harder."
Toph stuck out her tongue at Zuko, and the prince shrugged once at Katara.
"Fine," Toph agreed. "But only since he hits like a girl."
"And you hit like a boy," he countered. "Quite inappropriate behavior, milady, wouldn't you say?"
Toph frowned at him, apparently trying to think of a just punishment for his comebacks. Then her face lit up. "So, I think that since Scar-Face just attacked me, and as Katara is going to get a whole week of questions out of this, that I get to ask Zuko's tonight!"
The prince frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not stupid," Toph interjected. "And it's not like I can't hear through a flap of cloth. Katara heals you, and you answer a question for her, right?"
"Toph," Katara frowned, "I don't really know if that was exactly the deal-"
"Besides," Zuko insisited. "You attacked me."
"And you retaliated!" Toph pointed out. "Therefore tonight, in payback for my torture, I'm stealing Katara's question."
"Toph!" Katara protested.
"How conniving of you," Zuko added his glare. "...I accept."
"What?" Katara screeched as Toph whooped with a greedy look.
"Come on, Katara," Zuko pointed out. "You can still ask your questions some other time. I'm sure that's plenty of personal invasion for you."
"I hadn't intended on asking you more than the one you offered," Katara protested.
"So," Toph grinned, "you did have something you wanted to ask." Katara flushed. "Too late. You'll have to wait til tomorrow. Tonight's my turn." Katara wasn't sure she liked where this was going, but Zuko didn't seem to mind. Toph opened her mouth. "What happened to your-" Katara kicked her, sure she was going to say 'face', but the stubborn earthbender ignored her kick like a flea bite and continued without pause "Uncle?"
Zuko's jaw tightened slightly, though Toph couldn't see.
"Last we heard about the old man, your nut of a sister had captured him, and was dragging him off to face the Fire Lord. He's not with you anymore, so where is he?"
The prince relaxed. Obviously he had been afraid there would be more to the question then there was. Katara noted that, shocked to realize she was already plotting her own six questions. "When I told my father off during the eclipse, I went down to the jail cell to collect Uncle, hoping he'd escape with me," Zuko revealed.
"But he didn't?" Toph prompted.
"How can he? He was no longer there."
"No way!"
"Yeah. There was an Uncle shaped hole in the brick wall, and the guard was in complete shock. If I hadn't been so disappointed I'd missed him, I might have stayed just to stare at it."
"Right through a brick wall?" Toph repeated, excited. "That sounds like earthbender stuff!"
"I don't think so," Zuko countered. "I think he smashed his way through."
Toph looked skeptical. "Iroh? Not that I don't think he had it in him, but... that would be a mighty big hole!"
Zuko actually laughed. He threw back his head and laughed as if he hadn't realized how much he missed his uncle's jokes until that very moment, and was trying to make up for every one of them. Katara smiled as she watched him, and his deep laughter resonated through the whole tent, echoes of it going up his arm and pulsing inside her as well. "That it was," he agreed with Toph, finally. "That it was."
"So, where do you think he went?" Toph prodded.
Zuko shrugged. "I don't know," he answered. "But I have my suspicions."
"We should go look for him then!"
But the prince shook his head. "Being with Aang is more important right now. I know Uncle would say so." But Katara sensed the hesitance back in him again.
"All right," she cut over the conversation. "You're done."
Zuko pulled his hand back and flexed the fingers. "It's already feeling better," he admitted.
"Good." Katara grinned. "Don't be so stiff about asking for help next time then."
"No promises."
She smiled crookedly. "Out with you, then. It's getting late, and Toph needs her sleep. She's a complete bear in the mornings!"
The girl grinned wickedly as Katara opened the tent flap to let Zuko out into the cool night air.
"Well, it seemed like you were having fun in there," Katara puffed as the flap fell closed behind her.
"I'm not allowed to do that now?" he asked sarcastically, turning back towards his tent.
Katara shot him an annoyed glance. But she knew how he felt. She felt so much better, so much happier tonight than she had in a long time. She'd tried to participate in Toph's jokes too, after all. Of course, she wasn't good at it, but she had hardly expected Zuko to be so... open.
The prince glanced at her when she followed him across camp, but this time said nothing until she did. Katara nodded to herself. "You know that if you wanted to go look for Iroh... any one of us would go with you. He helped us out, and he's important to you." the waterbending girl folded her arms across her budding chest.
"It doesn't matter," Zuko denied. "I don't want to look for him yet."
"I know I forfeited my question, but... could you tell me why not?"
Zuko glanced at her. "We left not the best of terms... that is since Ba Sing Se. I think he'll find me again when he's ready. If he ever wants to, that is."
"Well," Katara admitted as they stopped beside his tent. "You are a really stubborn person, Zuko, and I'm sure if you want him to forgive you even half as much as you wanted me to, he won't have much of a choice."
Zuko nodded, thankfully. Then he looked down at her. Somehow his eyes were always brighter at night, like fire themselves...
"So, we're good then, you and I?" He inquired in a meek tone.
"Yeah," Katara agreed, hugging him briefly and pulling back before the prince could make any awkward attempts to return it. "And if we're not, we will be," she promised. "Sleep well."
"You too."
Katara turned with a smile, even more sure she and Zuko would be fine now. She would make sure they were.
But first she had to stop by Aang's tent. She had been gone from him too long, and knew he would be restless if she didn't tuck him in.