"Dream me, oh dreamer, down to the floor. Open my hands and let them weave onto yours.

Feel me, completer, down to my core. Open my heart and let it bleed onto yours." Wolf Like Me, TV On The Radio.

Xx

The Western Air Temple is stunning, inverted pagodas dripping from the underside of the cliff like stalactites, tangled and wild vegetation growing over the eroding stone structures. The temple couldn't be seen from most angles; from the top, it just looked like a grassy field that dropped off into a canyon. But flying in on Appa as the sunset throws golden light over the world makes it look surreal and magical, easing the pain of the invasion just a little bit. Appa touches down on one of the pagodas, and the gang jumps to the floor, marvelling at the structures before them.

"This place is amazing!" Toph's cloudy eyes are wide, and Katara can't imagine all of the things her feet are sensing. "And it's huge!"

"It's beautiful," Katara agrees as she looks all around, taking it all in, and her gaze falls on her brother, his eyes unfocused and distant. "Sokka, are you okay?" His head snaps to hers, and the look on it breeds worry in her stomach.

"I'm fine," he mumbles, voice dull and dry, and before she can ask him anything else, he walks away. "I'm going to check out the inside."

"I'll come with you." Zuko follows him inside, the two of them disappearing into the pagoda, lit only by a small flame in Zuko's hand. She stares after them, confused and concerned.

"Did something happen in the bunker?" She turns to Aang and Toph.

"I have no idea." Aang shrugs his shoulders, but Toph has a strange look on her face.

"Toph?" Katara is really concerned now; Sokka never acts like this, and it's starting to scare her.

"You should ask him, but maybe wait until tomorrow. Sparky's talking to him now."

Katara feels better that Zuko is talking to him, but she worries about what exactly they're talking about. She'll have to go see Zuko later to ask him if Sokka's okay. And nothing else. There's no other reason why I'd go see him later. At night. Where it'll probably just be the two of us... Shit.

Xx

He follows after Sokka into the interior of the pagoda, the weak flame in his hand their only light as they travel through halls. Zuko is sure that Sokka doesn't know where he's going, but he doesn't say anything. Dust has gathered in all of the corners and crevices of the temple, but somehow it isn't as creepy as he thinks it should be. Eventually the two men come out onto the other side of the pagoda, and Sokka sits down on a stone bench. Zuko sits down next to him, but it doesn't seem like Sokka even notices that he's there. They sit in silence for a while, the sky growing darker as the night overtakes the day, and as the moon rises, Sokka speaks.

"He's the reason Yue died." Zuko knows he's speaking of Zhao. "I loved her. She was the first girl I ever really loved." Zuko doesn't know quite what to say. He's no expert in love, and even if he was, he doesn't think that it would be appropriate for him to talk about that right now. He searches for words to comfort his friend, unsure where to even begin.

"Was Zhao your first?" He doesn't say the word that they're both thinking; they both know what Zuko means.

"Yeah." Sokka's reply is short and despondent as he stares up at the moon.

"Mine was when I was seventeen." He thinks that maybe if he can relate to Sokka, he'll feel better. "My uncle and I had stumbled into a really bad part of the Earth Kingdom where a gang was robbing families blind every night. I went out on my own one night in disguise to hopefully knock some sense into them, but when I went looking for them, I came across something so much worse. I was running on the rooftops when I looked down into an alleyway, and I saw three Fire Nation soldiers. They had a girl cornered." Sokka looks at him with hard eyes. "And I mean a little girl, like, she was probably eleven years old. They weren't doing anything, but I could just…" Zuko remembers how disgusted he was, listening to what those men were saying to that poor girl. "I knew what they wanted to do. And I don't know what happened; I just got so angry. I was going through a lot back then, and I was hurting really badly, and I guess I just flew off the handle. I had the girl run away before I killed them." Sokka is still looking at him, but Zuko hangs his head in shame. "It was only three guys, but I still remember their faces. I got really sick after it happened; like, nightmares and cold sweats and throwing up, all of it. My fever lasted for days. My uncle told me something about my soul going on a journey or some shit, but after that is when I really started to change and realize what this world had come to, and what part my family had played in it. That town was dirt poor and occupied by Fire Nation soldiers who didn't give a shit about those people. And it changed me..." He finally looks up at Sokka, whose face has softened from it's stoic expression of before. "I regret it every day, but then I think about what would have happened if I had let them live."

"They probably would've just found someone else." Sokka's voice is low, and Zuko nods at his words.

"Sometimes that's what it takes, especially now. We're in a war, Sokka. And honestly, I can't tell you if what you did was right or wrong, but I can tell you that I understand, and that Zhao deserved it."

They look at each other for a long moment before Sokka closes his eyes, leaning his elbows on his knees and burying his face in his hands. Zuko rubs his back while he cries, knowing that he needs to let it out without fear of being judged. He waits patiently until Sokka's breathing evens out, and he raises his head to sit up straight.

"Thanks man." He sniffles and wipes his nose on his sleeve.

"Any time." Zuko shuffles awkwardly. "Do you want a hug?" Sokka chuckles at that, and it's good to hear his friend break out of his melancholy, even if just for a moment.

"Sure."

Zuko wasn't expecting him to say yes, but their hug is nice. It reminds Zuko of his cousin, and how he always wished he had a brother to look up to and to grow up with. Sokka is the closest thing he's ever had to that, and the closest thing he's ever had to a friend at all, except for maybe Katara. They pull apart, and Zuko sits awkwardly for a minute staring up at the moon with Sokka.

"You good?" Sokka nods his head and claps Zuko's shoulder with his hand. "Do you want me to leave?" Sokka chuckles, but nods again, and Zuko stands up to head back to the others. "If you need me, you know where to find me."

He walks away from his friend, and it feels good to know that he's done something nice for someone. He hopes that he's actually helped Sokka feel better, but he knows that if he hasn't, he'll do whatever he can in order to make it happen.

Xx

Darkness falls upon the Western Air Temple, the silence of the night broken only by the buzz of fireflies and the breeze rustling distantly through the trees outside. Katara walks through the halls of the pagoda, her bare feet cold on the stone floor. The moon sits in the sky, regal in her rightful place among the stars, as she searches for the room she's looking for. She hopes that Zuko is still awake; she knows that before the invasion (it seems so long ago) they had stayed up well past this hour every night, and she's banking on him not being too exhausted from the day's events to have gone to bed early. She comes upon a room that has soft yellow light seeping out from under the door, the room she thinks is Zuko's. She takes a deep breath, wiping her sweaty palms on her tunic and willing her hands to still. Why am I so nervous? It's just Zuko. Zuko, who I kissed on the cheek before he went to the palace. Zuko, whose shoulder I massaged on the ride back while sitting very close to him. Zuko, who I am definitely madly in love with. She takes another deep breath before steeling herself and knocking on his door. It opens quickly, revealing a confused, but luckily wide awake, Zuko.

"Oh, hey." His voice is soft with the late hour, and she can already feel a blush growing on her cheeks.

"Hey, can I talk to you?" He steps aside for her to enter the room, and her heart speeds up a fraction.

"Of course." He closes the door behind her. "What's up?"

"I saw you follow Sokka earlier after we landed..." His face doesn't change, but she hadn't expected it to. "Is he okay?" He runs his hand through his hair, pushing off of his face and making her blush deeper. Spirits Katara, just relax.

"He's…" he rubs the back of his neck, something Katara's noticed is a nervous habit of his. "I mean, he's not hurt or anything."

"Something happened in the bunker." It isn't a question; she knows that something must have happened to cause Sokka to act like this, but she doesn't know what.

"Yes, but it's not my place to say what." At least Zuko is honest with her. She sighs, her hands coming up to play with the ends of her hair.

"I know." He takes a few steps closer to her. "I wasn't really expecting you to tell me what happened, I just…" She takes a measured breath to try to calm herself. "I'm worried about him."

"I know." Zuko rubs her upper arms, and she rests her head against his chest with a sigh, fisting her hands in his shirt, his warmth dispersing her anxiety like the rising sun's rays chasing away the deep indigo night. All of her emotions, all of the fear and nervousness and worry of the day build inside of her, escaping as tears and soaking into Zuko's shirt as she tries not to cry. "Hey..." He gently moves her just far enough away so that she can see his face, lined with concern. "It's alright. I know you're worried about Sokka, but he's a strong guy. He'll be okay." He wipes away her tears with a calloused thumb, the gentle touch belying his strength, as his other hand continues to rub her arm in a soothing gesture.

She realizes how close they are as she looks into his eyes, the warm light from the lone torch in the room casting a flickering yellow glow, enhancing their stunning gold color. Their faces are mere inches apart, and she catches his eyes darting to her lips as she licks them. Her eyelids grow heavy, and in a moment of bravery she tilts her head up as he moves his down, and lets her eyes close.

The kiss is almost painfully soft, just the slightest brush of lips, and it's too much and not nearly enough. She isn't sure who pulls who, but their lips meet again, more pressure and passion behind this kiss than the first. She grips his shirt tighter, pulling his body closer to hers, craving his warmth as she loses herself in the kiss. His lips are maddeningly soft, his hand sliding down from her arm to rest gently on her hip, stirring a heat inside of her that makes her dizzy. She snakes her hands up his chest, thoroughly enjoying how he shivers under her touch, and latches her arms around his neck, pulling herself even closer to him. Both of his hands move to her back as she deepens the kiss, his grip firm and warm, holding her to him like if he lets go she'll slip away into the night.

As much as she wants to kiss Zuko forever, they eventually break apart, breathing heavy and resting their foreheads together while they come back to reality. That's what a kiss should feel like. She had wanted her first kiss to be magical, like something from one of the stories Gran Gran had told her growing up, and it… hadn't been. Zuko had been nothing like Jet when they kissed; where Jet had been pushy, Zuko was soft. Where Jet had been in control, Zuko hadn't moved at all until after Katara did, and had moved much slower than Jet. She looks into his eyes, shimmering gold in the candlelight, staring straight back into hers.

"Katara..." he whispers her name like it's his favorite song, like it's the only one he cares to know. She reaches her hand to his face to brush the edge of his scar, her fingers so light that she isn't even sure that he feels it until he gasps softly. She moves to pull away, afraid that she's stepped over an invisible line, when he brings his hand up to cover hers, moving it so that her hand is cradling his cheek and leaning into her touch. His eyes close, an expression akin to sadness coming over his face.

"Does it hurt?" He almost looks pained, tension in his forehead pulling his brown down, but the rest of his face is relaxed.

"No, I can't feel anything but pressure." The tension in his features fades as he lets out a sigh, his breath ghosting over Katara's face. "Nobody ever touches it."

If she wasn't so close to him, she wouldn't have heard his quiet confession. She rubs her thumb gently along his cheekbone below his eye in a comforting gesture, and he turns his head the slightest bit to press a soft kiss to the heel of her palm. She pulls herself to him, bringing her other arm down to wrap around his waist before she rests her head in the crook of his neck, pressing her nose to his throat and breathing in the ever present smell of wood smoke and Zuko. They stay like that for a long time, finding comfort in each other's touch as the stars revolve around them.