Hi everyone, here's the new chapter. I remind you that it is a translation from French, and even if I put my best efforts, there may be mistakes for which I hope you'll forgive me. I hope you'll like this new chapter.

Do not hesitate to leave a review after your reading, it is very appreciated :)

Previously: Katara and Aang go to the Fire Nation Capital, officially to see their friend Zuko again, unofficially to help out in case of another attack on Zuko, who became Fire Lord 6 years earlier. They arrived in the midst of an assault by members of the New Ozai Society - and perhaps others, the mystery remains - and Katara found Zuko, badly wounded in the shoulder by a bolt of lightning he had failed to redirect. After much care by Katara, and much suffering, he finally woke up.

Chapter 2 - Full moon

"Ka... ta... ra..." Zuko said in a weak, hoarse voice, his amber eyes clouded with fever. Katara could at least conclude that he wasn't delusional and was on the contrary aware of who she was, which was a good start.

Katara gave him a slight smile. "Welcome back, Zuko" she said gently, placing a reassuring hand on his, which tightened around the sheet as he tried to say something, to no avail.

No sound came out of his throat, which showed the profound difficulty he had in pronouncing Katara's name - which, to his great misfortune, had at least two syllables too many for his liking at that moment.

He sighed and turned his head to the other side of the bed, where Ursa was about to sit so she could get a closer look at her son without getting in the waterbender's way. Katara still had to be able to intervene quickly.

"My darling, I was so scared for you" she said, taking his other hand, which was also clutching the red sheet. As if he was desperately trying not to lose his footing. He let go of the sheet only to cling to his mother's pale hand, which he struggled to hold.

Katara noticed once again the resemblance between mother and son, that little bit of sweetness and love they had in them. The fact that he had finally found his mother after so many years away had reinforced the soft side of Zuko's personality. Her heart ached as she thought of her own mother, whom she would never see again. She ran a nervous finger over the blue bead on her necklace. Aang had carved one for her years ago, but Katara had taken it off after they'd broken up, and put back the one that had once adorned her mother's neck. She still missed her terribly.

Ursa's voice, addressing Zuko, brought her out of her thoughts. "I'll send for your uncle, he'll be glad to see you awake."

She called the guards and asked them to inform Iroh of Zuko's awakening. Then she returned to his side. She was dressed like a real princess, with her long black brocade dress decorated with red embroidery. Katara pursed her lips, deprived. Her kimono and white outfit were covered in dried blood. She had rarely seen so much blood in the many healings she had performed among the four nations, yet she could boast of having healed over a hundred people in the past few years. Her healing abilities were extraordinary, and yet she would need the power of the moon in addition if Zuko was ever to regain full use of his shoulder. And he had to get it back. A Zuko who can't control fire properly because he doesn't have both arms doesn't mean anything! Katara mused.

He tried to speak again. Stubborn as a mule, or persistent, Katara hardly knew how to describe him. "Moth... er..." he said, looking into his mother's eyes, grateful for her presence.

He frowned and closed his eyes tightly, inwardly railing against his inability to speak. The wound in his shoulder was haunting - he couldn't move his shoulder without giving an ugly grunt of pain - but at least he was conscious. He had vague images of the moment when his body had started to convulse. He could see Katara struggling to hold him down with his uncle's help as she tried to calm his spasms and pain with her waterbending. He felt a little ashamed that he wasn't really the ideal patient. What a fool he had been, Azula had wasted no time in trying to teach this deadly skill to her most gifted disciples. Zuko was amazed that she had put aside her pride to teach lightning control to others, she who prided herself on being the best. A pleasant warmth on his wounded shoulder brought him out of his thoughts and made him open his eyes again.

Katara checked Zuko's condition again. His pulse was almost normal and the condition of his shoulder seemed stable even though his wounds were dangerously close to reopening. The young woman knew that the healing she planned for the night would speed up the process of healing and rebuilding the tissue and muscles. Zuko naturally tried to move, but a grimace and a groan ended his attempt. He could only move his right arm slightly, and his hand and fingers clutched what they found in their path: his mother's hands.

Katara spoke again and Zuko turned his head slightly towards her, suppressing a groan. "Your condition is stable, Zuko, but I will have to do a second round of healing tonight. It won't be pleasant at all, perhaps even worse than what you've endured so far, but it will give me the strength to get you back on your feet and allow your shoulder to heal completely in a few weeks." Katara explained.

He looked worried about the pain he would feel, but nodded slowly. If it would make him heal faster, he would take it. Better to suffer one good blow than to suffer a little for an infinite period. He moistened his lips, and found that his throat was terribly dry. The piece of cloth Katara had used to keep him from biting his tongue had made it dry. His eyes met Katara's again.

"Thirsty..." was all he could say.

Katara would have slapped herself. Of course he was thirsty! She ran to fetch him water, cursing herself for her unfortunate oversight. He drank so greedily that she feared he would choke on his water. If he coughed, he would suffer even more. Fortunately, this didn't happen. The young woman breathed a sigh of relief.

"We need to find you some food..." Katara murmured.

Zuko seemed exasperated, and for good reason. At the moment, he couldn't do anything by himself. And helplessness was probably one of the feelings he abhorred most in the world. Katara held back a smile. Zuko was for her the symbol of energy, the positive force of firebending. She remembered that he had been a rather harsh teacher to Aang. A perfectionist at heart.

"I'll take care of it!" Ursa said and placed a kiss on her son's forehead before standing up. She paused for a moment and then looked down at Zuko. "Your uncle is here, dear."

Iroh was indeed standing in the doorway. He looked out of breath, as if he had just moved heaven and earth to restore some order to the Palace. And he had. The cells that were usually quite empty in the Palace were filled again, awaiting interrogation and trial for every prisoner in them. Iroh had mobilised all the doctors to treat the guards who had been injured during the attack. He had also loaned his firebird messengers to Aang to warn the Kyoshi warriors as well as Sokka and Toph of what had happened as quickly as possible before setting out to track down the attackers. He hoped that Toph would send one of his students to help him in his task. Toph was training more and more earthbenders in metalbending and was extremely proud of her academy. She was a great help to Aang in pacifying the tensions in the former Fire Nation colonies, which now blended the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom living together in harmony.

Iroh sat down where Ursa had been. "You always have to damage yourself, nephew." he sighed.

Zuko rolled his eyes. It was obvious that as a Fire Lord, he had to get a little messed up. But so far, he'd managed to maintain a balance between his role as Fire Lord and his role as son, nephew, older brother and friend. Although it had been chaotic at times, especially with the events in Yu Dao where Aang and Katara on one side had come into conflict with Zuko on the other. But they had each made compromises and a new coalition government composed of members of the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom had been formed.

Ursa returned with a soup, which was more convenient for feeding Zuko. Katara decided to give them some privacy and went out into the hallway, where she sat against one of the massive pillars crossing it. It wasn't exactly the day she'd imagined, but it could have been much worse. She was frustrated that she couldn't go on the adventure she had hoped for. Of course, healing as many wounded people as possible was extremely important to her, but she missed fighting and using her waterbending in a more acrobatic way. Katara saw the positive side of things, however: she would have the opportunity to train with Zuko, who would inevitably have to go through rehabilitation on his shoulder. It was impossible to control fire properly with a missing shoulder and arm.

She closed her eyes, tired from her efforts to keep Zuko alive. She barely noticed the ballet of servants setting up a corner where she could rest and still be close to the Fire Lord in case of a medical problem. It was a good thing Ursa had come up with this idea, Katara would have been very anxious to find her way back through the maze of corridors in time to help her friend. And there was a bathroom right next to his room, which she would put to good use the next night.

Iroh eventually came out and approached her. An hour must have passed. "He has fallen asleep. We've made a little space for you. I'm very sorry to have to put a stop to your plans like this." he said, sorry that she was stuck here for an indefinite period. "Can I offer you a cup of tea? I had made some for my nephew, but he fell asleep before he could taste the exquisite brew so..."

Katara smiled. Him and his tea mania. "Gladly, and don't worry about me, there's no way I'm leaving Zuko in this state. I'm happy to be there for him" she assured him. It was true, even if her selfishness didn't entirely agree with it.

The afternoon passed relatively slowly, Zuko having fallen asleep after swallowing his soup, spooned by his mother. He was glad that Katara didn't see this. He felt weak. And he was! Unable to redirect a poor lightning bolt whose power was not even a tenth of what Azula could offer. But now he was sleeping almost peacefully, which surprised Katara. Usually, the severely wounded were between fainting and consciousness. He was strong, but he didn't realise it. And she knew it.

Katara drank her tea with Iroh. Few words were exchanged, for fear of waking Zuko. Ursa had also returned to look after her son. Kiyi had come much later to place a bracelet she had woven from leather strips she had cut herself under the watchful eye of her father, Ikem, Ursa's husband. He kept a low profile in the palace and only appeared to see his daughter. The rest of the time, he travelled with his troupe of actors to the heart of the Fire Nation and the former colonies. He was the one who taught her how to make these bracelets. Her older brother already had one on his wrist, but Katara supposed that the little girl had found nothing better than to make one for him to distract herself in peace. And obviously, she didn't have the heart to train her Firebending.

But surprisingly, it was to her that Kiyi gave her bracelet. It contained a small stone engraved with the symbol of Water mixed with that of Fire. The design was clumsy and inconsistent, but Katara didn't even notice it and thought it was very pretty.

"Because you are our friend, and you saved my big brother." Kiyi told her gently.

Katara thanked her and tucked it into one of the pockets of her blue trousers, unable to put it on right now. Her arms had to remain untouched, a bracelet would impede her movements and risk hurting Zuko if she had to manipulate it to observe his healing. She didn't rebuke Kiyi about Zuko not being off the hook yet, she didn't want to make her sad. She looked so adorable with her short hair and her little bun on her head, accented with a flame as was customary in the royal family. Kiyi sat for a while watching her brother sleep until Ursa took her to dinner.

She thought for a moment that someone was missing. Mai. She vaguely remembered Aang mentioning their breakup when he'd gone to solve the mystery of the Fire Nation child abductions. But she hadn't heard anything about it since then. Zuko must have had a hard time with it, he kept silent when he was not well. Perhaps that was the reason for his distance from Team Avatar. Katara shrugged and gave a strange smile. Zuko was going to be on her back for a long time judging the condition of his shoulder, which wasn't too bad considering the shock he'd taken, but it was still bad.

"I'm going to need some real bandages so I can redo his dressing." she finally said as she saw the one on him reddening more and more. The bleeding must have resumed despite Katara's efforts, and she sighed. Iroh nodded and asked for it to be done. "If you need anything Katara, don't hesitate to ask, they'll do it." Iroh told her gently.

Katara thanked him with a nod and a smile. It was finally getting dark. Dinner was again brought to her, which she ate alone, as Iroh had to confer with the main leaders of the palace guards to plan a new defence strategy, as the royal guard had been greatly reduced by the number of wounded. The Kyoshi warriors were expected to arrive during the night to reinforce Iroh's plan.

Zuko seemed to emerge from his sleep. He was dripping with sweat, his fever not subsiding. Katara moistened some more cloths that had been brought in to cool his face, and hers at that. Summer was coming, and with it the scorching heat that plagued the Fire Nation like every summer. The waterbending master missed the coolness of the South Pole. Zuko's golden eyes rested on her. He silently thanked her. Her kind blue eyes were a great help to him as he waded through the pain. Katara was like an outstretched hand he clutched to keep from drowning.

She decided to bathe him now to bring his fever down a little. She called the doctors, who arrived with the stretcher. While she filled the basin in the next room with warm water, they moved Zuko. The tricky part now was to get Zuko into the basin without making his condition worse. They placed the end of the stretcher on the edge of the pool, and very gently tipped him over. Katara held him by the chest so he wouldn't fall. She managed to get his legs into the pool, so all that was left was to sit him up. He was still held by the stretcher at the level of his back, and he let himself slide along the wall of the basin until he was seated. He made several groans during the operation but in the end it went relatively smoothly. The doctors left, leaving clean bandages as requested earlier.

Zuko breathed a sigh of relief. The warm water was very pleasant, more so than he had expected. Katara really knew what she was doing. But he had no idea that the worst was yet to come. Katara specifically asked that no one disturb them unless instructed otherwise by her, no matter what happened or what they heard. Remembering Iroh's orders, they left the room and the chamber without comment. The moon was up, Katara felt her bending growing stronger by the minute. Zuko's breathing quickened, he wondered what hell awaited him. Katara was surprised to see tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't really know what was going to happen, she had sworn she would never use this part of her bending again. But she had no choice, he wouldn't survive otherwise.

"I'm sorry Zuko, but I'm going to have to... take control." she told him as she leaned over him to undo his now soaked bandage, revealing his wound, which was quite ugly to see. He looked suddenly terrified but nodded firmly. His eyebrows furrowed. He was determined to survive and he trusted her completely. If she thought he could endure this, then he could.

She took a deep breath and placed her hands above him, close to his shoulder. She placed her hands vertically over his wound, as if to split the air. She lowered them forcefully to make contact with Zuko's blood, which was flowing fairly smoothly at the moment. As she lowered her hands, Zuko began to feel a sharp pain in his body. He groaned at first, and then screamed as she finished her move. It was as if Katara had plunged her hands directly into his wound. He could no longer contain his screams, though he did his best. Her blue eyes were closed now as she concentrated. She could see the wound from the inside, and she was shocked when she saw the work she would have to do tonight.

As she began her work of rebuilding and strengthening the tissue and muscles, Zuko's screams filled the room again. Even small sparks came from his mouth. But Katara didn't give in and continued her work, trying to ignore his screams of pain. It was much worse than the time she had to break a wounded man's bones again because his fractures had not healed properly and his bones were forming an anarchic mass inside him. That day she had wondered if it was possible to do worse in terms of pain inflicted for healing.

She had the worst in front of her and she was almost certain that she would have nightmares when she was done. She put all her strength and willpower into her bending to make this moment as brief as possible. But it still lasted for hours because everything inside his shoulder and all around had burned. Everything had to be rebuilt as best as possible. Katara had had years to perfect her healing techniques and her knowledge of human anatomy, but she usually only repaired, not recreated. And it was rare that it was an area so close to the heart. Zuko was exhausted and his voice would soon be out of order. He had never been in so much pain in his life. But he was not alone, for Katara was enduring this ordeal with him and was struggling to maintain her blood bending at the same strength. If she faltered, it was all over for him.

Little by little Zuko felt his arm become less and less painful. His ordeal was finally coming to an end after so many hours of suffering. Katara was drenched in sweat and her arms, which were still healing, were shaking and numb. She was exhausted, but her tenacity was even greater than her fatigue. She did not give in.

When it was finally over, Zuko had regained some strength and vigour in his shoulder, although he could not yet move it completely because it still hurt. Katara was struggling to catch her breath, as if she was running out of air. She felt her arms fall limply over Zuko. Her eyes met Zuko's, then clouded over and she collapsed backwards, next to the pool. Her head hit the ground. Zuko, who still didn't seem to realize what had happened - he was still recovering from his excruciating pain - sat up as much as he could in panic.

"Katara?!" he called. His voice was broken, but at least he could speak more clearly now. The sound of his own voice surprised him, who had been complaining only a few hours ago that he could hardly make a sound. "Guards!"

He heard voices behind the door. They had been standing by all night but had respected Katara's orders by not interfering. Finally one of them entered.

"My Lord! What..." the guard began before seeing Katara's body, inert.

"Call the... Call the medics!" Zuko ordered painfully as he tried to extricate himself from the pool, soaked to the bone, literally.

His trousers had become heavy from the water and he was still too weak to get out completely. The guard ran out of the shower room and the doctors came running in a short time later. One of them helped Zuko out of the pool.

He grabbed one of the towels that Katara had left near the tub and dried himself with his one good arm. "Take care of her, I can wait!"

They placed Katara carefully on the stretcher and laid her on the small bed that had been set up so that she could watch over Zuko. They helped Zuko out of the shower room by supporting him by his back as his muscles refused to cooperate. But he refused to go to bed and decided to sit beside Katara's bed, where the doctors reluctantly placed one of the chairs in the room. He could not abandon her when she had given all her energy to heal him. He even thought that her life might be in danger. The doctors examined her and saw nothing very alarming except for a rapid pulse and rapid breathing, like someone out of breath after a race. And what a race against death it was! They had to re-bandage Zuko's shoulder. He would wear his left arm in a sling for the time being. Iroh arrived, still sleepy.

"You look transformed Zuko! But shouldn't you be resting?" Iroh began, pausing for a moment at the sight of Katara unconscious on her bed. She looked transformed too, but not in a good way. Her face had deepened with fatigue, which was related to the control she had exerted over Zuko. He realised that Zuko's healing must have drained her of her strength. She was still wearing her blue kimono and white outfit underneath, both stained with Zuko's blood, which now formed a large brownish stain on the sleeping woman's clothes.

"I'm certainly not going to go and rest when she's in this state because of me!" He retorted in a tone of voice that was both irritated and saddened, without lifting his eyes from Katara. Anyone could see in his eyes that he was very worried. Iroh had rarely seen him like this.

"I see you haven't lost your bite, Zuko. But there's nothing you can do, she needs to rest." he said, laying a hand on his shoulder. His nephew was as determined as a flame, burning everything in its path, and yet, at that very moment, had the sensitivity and fragility characteristic of the Water Tribe people. Zuko finally deigned to look up at him.

"How do you feel?" Iroh asked him gently. Katara had obviously worked wonders last night, but he wanted to hear it from him.

"Tired. Weak. But my arm doesn't hurt anymore, at least not as long as I don't move it." Zuko told him, looking at his bandage. He could at least move his fingers and wrist without hurting himself too much, whereas he could barely take his mother's hand a few hours earlier. But even if he could move his legs, his body was shaking so badly that he knew he couldn't take a step upright. He was already devoting all his efforts to staying awake, slumped in his chair.

He turned his attention back to Katara. Her hair was damp with sweat. She had always worn it the same way since he had met her, with her two front loopies tied with blue pearls. Her face had not changed that much and still exuded the sweetness and kindness he knew her to be capable of. She still wore her mother's necklace, although he swore he had seen her wearing another necklace some time ago.

He remembered thinking that she had changed her necklace, but had not asked for anything more at the time. He realized that it must have been a necklace that Aang had engraved for her when they were together. And that she'd put her mother's back on when they'd broken up. It was Toph who had told him about their break-up, both of them refusing to talk about it. He had not sought to know more. He too had refused to talk about his separation from Mai, because it was all his fault. He had had too many secrets for her and she had left. He pushed these memories out of his head.

"What happened, Uncle? Do we know who instigated this attack?" Zuko asked in a calmer voice.

Iroh told him what had happened and who he suspected was behind it. He also told him that Aang had gone after them. Zuko suddenly remembered what had happened before he collapsed. The soldier who had thrown the lightning bolt had first tried to block his chi to prevent him from firebending, and when that didn't work, he had pulled his trump card from his sleeve. Zuko had never suspected that others besides Iroh, Ozai and Azula had been able to control lightning. He would never make that mistake again.

"I see..." Zuko said slowly as he recalled the attack. "I think they had orders to capture me, or kill me if necessary. Whoever threw that lightning bolt at me first tried to block my chi I think," he explained.

"So they are trying to master this technique... Azula must have told them about Ty Lee's skills in this regard" Iroh surmised, running his hand through his beard. Then he changed the subject. "Your friend the Avatar is on their trail, he'll know how to deal with them. I understand he's asked Toph for help, that lovely little girl, a real fighter, she'll help him. And so will you when you get better." he said encouragingly.

Zuko was grateful that Aang had volunteered to start the investigations and that his uncle had offered whatever help the Avatar needed in advance. Aang was a great friend of the Fire Nation, and without a doubt Zuko's best friend. They had argued a lot at the beginning of his reign, but had found common ground and now agreed on almost everything. Iroh was so proud of his nephew, who no longer thought of himself as a mere firebender, but as an individual who drew his strength from the four elemental philosophies, and, thus, from Air.

The young Fire Lord winced again. Talking for so long caused him a headache that was growing worse and worse, so much so that he spent the rest of the conversation massaging his temples to ease the pain.

"Is Kiyi okay?"

Iroh realised that Zuko had indeed not seen her for a while. He had been unconscious or asleep every time the young firebender had come by to see him.

"She's fine, don't worry. She's visited you several times but you were either asleep or unconscious." Iroh explained.

Zuko sighed with relief. He was still worried that she would be abducted again, as had happened a few years earlier because of Azula. He was suddenly worried. Had she escaped? He knew that one of the goals of the New Ozai Society was to free his sister and father. "Are my sister and father still in their rightful place?"

Iroh nodded. "I have personally made sure of that. There was no attempt to escape, which still surprises me. I believe they have resigned themselves to simply decimating our family."

"Simply..." Zuko grumbled, finding the euphemism completely unfunny. "When I get back on my feet, I'll take care of this business with the Avatar."

But he knew that wasn't going to happen right away. He couldn't firebend as it was, as he'd noticed when he'd tried and failed to light the candle that was lighting Katara. He couldn't even move his shoulder or strain it in any way without it causing him to wince in pain. He yawned, falling over with fatigue. But he refused to move away from Katara, whose hand he held, fascinated by the contrast between their two skins. He was so pale in comparison.

Iroh noticed, but before he could even comment, he stifled a yawn of his own. "If you don't need anything else, I'll go to sleep. Someone has to keep this palace running tomorrow!" he said, rising from his chair. Zuko opened his mouth to contradict him but he beat him to it. "Don't even think about it, Zuko, until you're completely healed, I'll take care of everything."

Zuko pouted but knew deep down that his uncle was right. He was unable to think of anything but his arm and Katara's condition. It was his fault that she had to use this bending she abhorred more than anything else in the world. He knew that one of her goals was to make this control illegal. She had to betray her principles to save him. The pain of her guilt gripped his chest. Her throat tightened.

"Thank you, Uncle, I don't know what I would do without you." he told him.

"To tell you the truth, I don't want to imagine what you would have done without me." he replied humorously before leaving the room, the silence returning to the Firelord's room.

It was the first time since Zuko had occupied this room that two people had slept in the same room, except for Kiyi. Mai had always refused to share her room with him, for some obscure reason he hadn't had the heart to find out. Kiyi was the only one who had slept with him when she had nightmares as a child. He remembered her nightmares well, they were all related to his mother's physical change. She had given up her face for another and given birth to Kiyi with that new face, but when Zuko had found her, she had finally returned to her true appearance. Kiyi didn't take this transformation well and thought for a long time that a monster had attacked her mother. She, with Zuko's help, had finally reconciled with Kiyi several months later, gradually putting an end to those bad dreams.

He watched Katara for a moment. He had often seen her sleeping, when he himself could not, when they were still on this mission against his father, Ozai. She was very peaceful in her sleep then, hardly moving. Nothing seemed to have changed. Then, in exhaustion, he fell asleep in his chair, tilting forward little by little, and finally resting his head and upper torso on the edge of the bed in his sleep. He was so exhausted that his very uncomfortable position did not wake him at all.

Katara actually slept less peacefully than it seemed, Zuko's screams during his perilous healing filling her dreams like an horrible music that never stopped. But as exhausted as Zuko was, if not more so, nothing could have woken her at that moment, not even the worst of nightmares. What a surprise it was for Katara the next day when she awoke painfully, black dots dancing in front of her eyes, with Zuko's tangled hair and his breath tickling her arm...

I hope this chapter pleased you. Feel free to leave a review, it is very encouraging :) Hope to see you at the next chapter (which should come quickly !).