When Zuko had been sick as a little kid, his mother had always taken care of him. When she had disappeared, he had felt alone. He remembered when he was eleven, he was fighting a fever and lying in his room all by himself. He had been crying in his sleep, missing his caring mother so much it hurt. His father had told the healers to give him medicine, but they couldn´t give him what he really needed: Love. However, there had been someone who came for him and stayed until his illness was gone: Uncle Iroh, the man who always cared about him like he was his own son. Zuko thought of the last time he had seen his uncle. He had betrayed and disappointed him terribly. Through the heat of his fever he felt guilt and shame coming up once again, and tears ran down his cheeks. He couldn't stop himself from sob weakly in his pillow.
Sokka and Katara ran as fast as they could back to Zuko´s room. He didn´t knew why, but leaving the sick boy alone had felt wrong to Sokka. When he opened the door as quiet as possible, he heard some noise coming from the bed. Fearing that Zuko was suffering another coughing attack, the siblings rushed to him, only to discover that he was crying. "He must be in nasty pain.", Sokka suggested. Helplessly he started to rub Zuko´s arm while Katara settled in the chair, preparing to stretch out her healing senses again. When Zuko felt Sokka´s hand, he flinched. His feverish eyes opened and stared at the other boy, not being able to focus. "Uncle?", he weakly whispered. "I´m so sorry…" Katara took some water out of her bottle and laid her hands on Zuko´s chest. He gasped from the cold. "Zuko, can you hear me?", Katara asked carefully. His head snapped in her direction and he tried to calm his breath. He wasn´t with his uncle. He was at his family´s house on the Ember Islands, Sokka and Katara were sitting at his bed. He remembered Sokka leaving to get his sister. It must have been only three minutes ago, yet if felt like eternities…
As Zuko´s breaths calmed down, Katara concentrated on her hands. She couldn't cure his illness, but maybe she could take some of his pain away. She let her healing water wander into his head, which was a boiling mess full of fever. When she was done, she hoped that he would feel better. She looked into his face, which was still pale, but his eyes seemed clearer now. "How did you do that?", he whispered astounded. His spinning pain in his head had suddenly subsided enough for him to be able to think clear again. Even though his whole body was still sore and his lungs felt terrible, he was feeling better. "Thank you.", he mumbled and took a deep breath which stung in his chest. He wasn´t with his uncle, but he wasn´t alone either…
After Katara´s healing, Zuko had fallen asleep, this time his breath was way more settled. Sokka looked at his sister. "Wow. That was some great work of healing." Katara nodded exhausted. It had cost a lot of energy. "I´m still worried though.", she said. "We know nothing. He is suffering so badly, and we don't even know why. Did he say something?" Sokka shook his head. "He only told me that he was feeling a little off in the morning. Well, it ended up like this. I mean, a few hours earlier he just stopped breathing, you remember? What can cause such a damage in such short amount of time?" "I have no idea. But it might be time to find someone who has."