I would like to thank WildCitrusSunflower for being the beta for this story and fixing all of those mistakes I tend to make. Also I do not own Avatar the last Airbender .

It had been a beautiful morning, the sky clear and the sun warm. It was the middle of spring and when they had left the Palace, Katara should have enjoyed the singing birds and blooming flowers, but she hadn't. After her talk to Nayami yesterday evening, Katara had ordered her secretaries to find all the information on workhouses they could gather in one night.

This mornings report had been unrelenting in it's description. There were fourteen such houses registered in the Capital alone, ranging in size between fourteen and as many as one hundred children. But from what had been insinuated, there might be more unregistered spikes. When she had looked at the numbers of what it would cost to run just one acceptable orphanage though, her head had begun swimming. Yes, it would be possible...If she closed one of the hospitals. But an orphanage would save only a few; how many more children did the hospital save? She could stop some of the work creating projects; but how many families would starve if they no longer had any form of income? Could she risk interfering with the workhouses at all if she knew that she wouldn't be able to take care of the children? What if the current owners decided that the places were no longer profitable enough?

As the carriage had rumbled through the outer sectors of the city, Katara had stared at the decaying state of the buildings, the waste that covered the street and the pitifully equipped stores that popped up every rare once in a while. She had never before ventured in this area of the city, hadn't even known that it existed. But perhaps the worst had been that some of the people were smiling. Smiling, laughing and joking.

Children could be found in the dark corners, playing in the dirt. These people should be crying and weeping. They should be angry and miserable. But they did not seem to find anything as terribly wrong as she did. Yes, sometimes a group would see her wagon and come to beg for money, only to be driven away by her guards, but the wagon was simple enough that it did not draw as much attention as she would have thought. Perhaps it was not quite that rare to find someone with money coming here.

The place her friend finally asked the driver to stop at was a large old building that reminded her strongly of the home of a large noble family that had fallen to ruin several centuries ago. Surrounded by a stone wall and metal gates, the mansion had taken on a general grayish-brownish tint. Several windows were broken and, of what must have formerly been a garden, one old, leafless tree remained. Only the gate seemed in perfect condition.

A strict looking, elderly lady answered the door and upon seeing Katara's clothing quickly stopped the muttered curses that had been escaping her. When she heard about Kataras intentions, she hollered for a boy, who was sent off to ask the "owner" as to what should be done.

They were asked to wait in a surprisingly luxurious room and offered an overly sweet tea. After two hours the boy returned, having obviously run quite a ways, as he was soaked through. The owner himself never turned up, but after promising to pay not only the debt, but also a rather large additional fee, if the girl suited her needs, she was led to a small, far dirtier room in which six bunk beds were placed. Calling them bunk beds seemed a bit much to her, considering they consisted of wooden boards, which were covered with a few straws. Six pairs of tired eyes stared at her, but before she could get a proper look at the others or the room, one of the small inhabitants was dragged from her resting place by the older woman and shoved into Nayami's arms.

"Get her to the group room, but mind not to get anything dirty."

"Yes, Miss." Nayami answered quietly and, shuffling through several abandoned rooms which were in no better condition than the one they had come from and that seemed to serve as dormitory rooms, they arrived in another large and clean room with several chairs and even a sofa. Though not as elegant as the room they had waited in it still seemed out of place in the otherwise dirty and run down house. Quickly placing the bundle on the sofa, Nayami turned to Katara and admitted quietly, "She used to weigh almost twice as much and she was always rather thin."

Closing the door so as not to be overheard, Katara approached the girl, "Hello Tsumori. I am a friend of Nayami and I was wondering, if you would mind, if I took a look at you? I know a bit about medicine and might be able to help you?"

A week nod was her only reply, but it was all the permission she needed. Gently unbuttoning the girls grey, oversized pajamas, she sucked in a breath when she could see all if the girls ribs. Her breathing was shallow and laboured, her skin almost the same colour as her clothing. Gently placing her right hand on the girls chest, she began to feel for her lungs.

Sadly, Nayami's expectations of the girls chances had been rather hopeful. Even with the best medical care, the waterbender was uncertain, if she would survive. Her lungs were severely congested and infected, but this alone would have been heal-able on an otherwise strong patient. Combined with the extreme malnutrition, which seemed to hint to additional problems with her stomach, matters became a great deal more difficult. But there was something else that bothered her, a slight deformation of the skin, which she wanted to get a closer look at. She had felt something similar only once in her life. She had never expected to find it here and was almost certain that she had to have been mistaken.

"Could you turn around? I would like to see your back, if that's all right?"

So far the girl had been compliant, so she was surprised by the suddenly frightened look towards Nayami, which was followed by vehement shaking of her head.

Moving next to Nayami, the young bender spoke quietly, but insistently, "She isn't going to even get through the week without medical attention, Nayami. Before I can do anything to help her though, I need to get a whole picture of what I am dealing with and for that I need to see her back. I might just make her worse if I do something without understanding the condition completely."

Closing her eyes shortly, Nayami nodded and turned to her young charge, murmuring to her softly until she finally turned around hesitatingly. Reclaiming her previous position, Katara once more allowed her senses to stretch into the girls body. This time though she moved them lower than before, looking for the spot in the skin that had surprised her so. Moving the girls pants down a bit, she gasped.

A flaming mark. A flaming mark, which resembled a very distinctive form: A dragon swallowing its own tail.

The girl, noticing Katara's shock tried to quickly cover herself again, but there could be no mistake. The bender had seen this mark once before.

"How?"

Grabbing her shoulders, Nayami turned Katara to look at her. "You can't tell anyone. Please. If anyone were to find out... ."

"That's why you didn't want her coming to the palace. That's why you haven't asked for my help, isn't it? You know what that mark represents?"

Looking down to the ground, the young maid nodded, "Yes. It's prove that she is of royal blood."

Katara led out a rush of air. "How?"

"When I was still a young child myself, a woman came, carrying a baby in her arms. The baby can't have been more than a few days old, but she asked the spike to take it in. At the time there was luckily a young woman, whose own baby was old enough to be weaned, so she agreed to feed the child. She told the nursing woman, that the child's name was Tsumori, despite the fact that there was little hope for her. She was the child of Fire Lord Ozai and one of his many concubines. Generally, once the concubines became pregnant they were either forced to abort by drinking all kinds of strange teas or the children were killed after they were delivered to avoid possible fights for the throne. But this one concubine supposedly left services before noticing her pregnancy. Her leaving in and of itself is already rare enough, generally nobody left the Fire Lord's service alive, but for someone possibly with child...Well I will never know what truly happened. The woman left Tsumori and the one nursing her looked after her until she died, when Tsumori was four. I took over afterwards. But now you know, why she can't go to the palace. If anyone ever finds out! She is a nonbender, so she can't take the throne, but that has never stopped a Fire Lord before. Please, Katara. Tsumori means everything to me!"

"Katara?" The young girl, that so far had been quiet spoke up gently, her voice being barely more than a whisper. "She is your mistress? The Fire Lady?"

"Yes," Nayami admitted quietly, hastening to insure, "She is, but she isn't like the other nobles, she won't hurt you."

This obviously upset the young girl, as she began shaking. "She is married to the Fire Lord." She stated, as if this alone was all that needed to be said on the matter.

Katara's first impulse was to take the girl with her and tell Zuko, but a whisper in the back of her mind stopped her. This would destroy all of his careful planning. Yes the girl was a nonbender, which would normally exempt her from any chance to take the throne, but if the choice lay between a nonbending bastard child with royal blood and a waterbender, Katara could easily imagine the nobles siding with the nonbender. Especially since she was unprepared, uneducated and as such nothing more than a puppet. If Zuko recognized this girl as a member of the royal family, his plans would be destroyed. But could Zuko ignore the fact that he had a younger sister in desperate need of help? Or even worse, could he order her death for the sake of the nation?

Yes, Zuko didn't even know the girl which certainly would make it easier, but Katara knew how desperately Zuko was afraid of being alone, how much he wanted a family. He had done it once before, had sacrificed his family for the sake of his Nation. Could he do so again? Even more importantly, should he? Would it break him, to condemn another family member to death or was it the only way? Would it destroy his soul to ignore the existence of a sister?

But then, if she never told him, hid the girl somewhere far away from the Capital and removed the mark once she was healthy again, wouldn't that be easier? Zuko would never have to know, would never have to make that kind of decision again. Yes, he would also never meet his last remaining sibling, but would that be so bad compared to the alternative? Couldn't she save him from that pain? Couldn't she spare him that? Hadn't he suffered enough already? Hadn't they all?

She almost wished she had never pressed Nayami to tell her what was going on. Almost hoped that she had never learned. Could she live with lying to her husband every day? Could she live, knowing that she was the reason that he had to make such a terrible decision once more? For him, who had been rejected by his own family, to bring that same pain to another? It felt wrong on so many levels to hide this, but she wouldn't add another point to his death wish list.

Nayami was staring at her, her eyes clearly asking what would happen now, unsettled by her friends lack of response.

"We will get her out of here. I'll give you the money to rent a decent apartment in a better area of town. Should have done that long ago. We'll find her a doctor, who can be discreet and simply tell him, that she has suffered from some abuse and won't allow anyone to see her body below the navel. Nobody but a waterbender should be able to notice the mark without actually seeing it. Just to be safe we can wrap the area in bandages. The doctor might complain, but there shouldn't be much he can do against it. I won't be able to visit her regularly, as that would draw undue attention, but I will heal what I can before leaving today and with rest, care and the proper medicine she should recover."

Tsumori seemed too afraid to give any opinion and Nayami simply nodded. It wasn't as if there was much she could do at this point anymore. Yes, she had claimed that if Tsumori refused to come along, she would be allowed to remain behind, but the young servant knew that that wasn't an option. Had, if she was honest with herself, know that since the moment she had told Katara about her friend. If she was honest with herself, she knew that it had been nothing but an illusion from the very start. Some part in her had hoped, despite everything that the young royal would be fine. That she would recover on her own. Now that she knew she wouldn't and had been given an alternative that would ensure her survival, Nayami would not let her sister, in all but blood, die.

Katara was hurrying to get presentable for the ceremony to bid goodbye to Yue before her ship left this evening. It had taken longer than expected to settle Tsumori and heal the worst of the damage done to her lungs. But when she passed by her husband's study, she stopped abruptly. Despite her desperate need to hurry, she couldn't help but remember her discussion with Ursa just three days before.

"Is it so wrong of him to try and protect you, Katara?" The old royal had asked.

Katara hadn't understood then, but wasn't she planning to do the same? To keep things from him, that he did not need to know, to spare him pain? Just three days ago Katara had said that she was strong enough, but that wasn't the question, was it? Zuko would prevail, even if he had to order the death of yet another family member, she knew that. But what if it wasn't necessary, if she simply didn't tell him? Wouldn't that be the better solution? At least for now?

She remembered Ursa's sad expression, combined with her firm voice, "Do you not only trust him to want the right thing, but also to choose the correct way to get there?"

Back then she had felt uncertain, had felt as if it was almost a trick question, which she could only answer incorrectly, but when she had thought of what to do about Tsumori, Zuko making the wrong decision had never even crossed her mind. It being hard for him, painful, had concerned her, never him doing the wrong thing. Even if in the end he would have been forced to order her death, she never even considered, that that might be the wrong choice. In that moment she had faith that even if he killed an innocent young girl, he would do it for the right reasons and with anything but a light heart. That he would make the right decision and that he would continue living with it. How ironic that she could even consider killing an innocent acceptable. She who had always called every life irreplaceable. It wasn't that she would sit by and watch an innocent, especially a child, be hurt, oh no. If someone told her that a child had to be sacrificed for the greater good, she would fight them tooth and nail, but it was the knowledge that Zuko would do the same, that stalled her. That there had been times when he would have given anything, anything to save someone and had still had to hurt them. Could she live with knowing what had happened?

She hadn't been able to answer Ursa's questions three days ago, but now she was surprised, that she had had such a hard time. Now she knew.

Feeling calmer and more certain than she had in a long time, she strode into the reception hall, walked straight up to Yue and hugged her friend. The nobles, in all their finery, stared as their sovereign smiled at the white haired woman in whose honour this celebration was being held, "You said you would rather live with trying and failing than with doing nothing, well, so would I. So lets try."

A smile graced Yue's face, perhaps the first true one, Katara had ever seen. Not the the lady like, gentle show of the upper front teeth, but a real one that connected the eyes with each other, forming the shape of a waxing moon.

"Yes."

Hi,

this chapter is one of the most important ones in this story, or at least that's how I see it. This is the chapter, where Katara takes the last step from child to adult. Now I can imagine, that many won't be a fan of this step, will call it out of character that Katara would ever consider killing a child, because of the political consequences. I tried making it clear, that she isn't actually considering, but rather what knowing about his sister would do to Zuko. What Zuko would have to consider. All for one and one for all and all that. If you have to choose between one and many, what's right? How much risk can you justify when playing with the lives of others.

This is where Katara realises that sometimes not knowing is better than knowing and that sometimes even when you know, there is no perfect way out, but it's also where Katara decided that she would try anyways. It might seem like something small, but I think it is what makes all the difference and what will ultimately understand Zuko.

In the original there was this one beautiful episode,where Katara goes after her mother's killer with Zuko. It's the point where she first had to accept that there are dark, dark shadows in everyone (not just the enemy) and then decide what to do with that knowledge. This chapter is supposed to be of a similar type, just that the lessons learned are more advanced, less black and white. She is older after all.

Now I know a lot of you had sympathy for Katara's anger at being excluded. I'm not saying that is wrong, or not understandable or anything (I'm the same :)). But maybe this chapter makes Zuko a bit more understandable as well :).

Well enough of my ramblings. I am extremely nervous about this, so let me know what you think.

Greetings and thank you all,
Yorushike