The storm was still raging when Katara and Zuko made it back to the shack. They were both drenched to the bone, and Dusty wasn't any better. The ground under their feet had turned to mud, and they stripped out of their boots before they went into the shack. They brought Dusty inside with them as well, since the weather was just too foul for her to stay outside.

Iroh was sleeping leaning against the wall. Katara felt bad, since it was obvious that he had been waiting for them to return. She glanced over and saw Zuko looking at him, a mix of emotions on his face: adoration, concern, conflict.

Katara pulled the water from her clothes and flicked it out into the night. Then she turned to Zuko and held out her hands. He nodded, and she wicked the moisture from his clothes as well. She offered Dusty the same treatment, stroking her cheeks and offering soft words.

The temperature had dropped with the storm, and even though she was relatively dry, she shivered as a cool breeze blew through the shack.

"Are you cold?" Zuko asked, his voice low and husky.

"A little bit," Katara admitted.

Zuko nodded. She watched as he crossed to the hearth and stoked up the dying fire. Then he took the saddle blanket and laid it over Iroh, who only snored louder for a moment before he relaxed. Zuko sat down by the hearth on the other side from Iroh and beckoned her over.

Katara went to him and sat beside him, closest to the hearth. Zuko put his arm around her shoulders and drew her into his side. Katara immediately felt the heat that he radiated, and she relaxed against him, already feeling warmer.

"Thank you," Katara murmured as her eyes closed. It had been a long day.

She felt him nod as he hummed in acknowledgement. Neither of them said anything for a while. Then he spoke.

"Thanks." His voice was gruff and quiet.

"For what?"

She felt his shoulders lift in a shrug. "For...coming after me. Making sure I was okay."

Katara lifted her head so that she could look at him. His gaze was focused on something across the room, his expression as stormy as the night outside. She reached over and grabbed his free hand.

"Of course, Zuko," she said softly. He looked down at her, his eyes burning. "I can't imagine what you're going through. Being banished, considered a traitor. None of it. All I know is that when I look at you, I see someone who has been hurt, but you've never let it bring you down. You're strong, Zuko."

He looked away, his jaw tightening. "Sometimes it just feels like no matter what I do, it's not enough. I'm not a good enough firebender. I'm not a good enough son for my father. I'm not a good enough nephew for my uncle."

Zuko squeezed his eyes shut. Katara felt the shudder that ran through him, and she tightened her hold on his hand. Her heart ached for him, for this sad, lonely boy who had been through so much.

"You are good enough," Katara murmured. "Your uncle loves you so much, Zuko. He thinks you're enough."

Zuko didn't say anything else for a moment. She could feel the unsteady rhythm of his heart against his ribs, and the way his body temperature flared with each breath he took.

She wanted to tell him that everything would be fine, but she couldn't offer him such hollow assurances. Because the truth was that no matter how much good was in him, he was the Fire Lord's son. There was just as much darkness inside of him as there was light.

And although he had been helping her, traveling with her over the last few weeks, protecting her and watching her back, Katara still didn't know what he was going to do when they found her friends. She trusted him, but there was no guarantee that he wouldn't go after Aang. She just couldn't say.

Zuko's husky voice broke through her thoughts. "We should get some sleep. We need to find a village tomorrow and get some more supplies."

Katara looked up at him, wanting to say more. But his expression was closed off, and she could tell that he wasn't willing to talk about this anymore. She let out a soft sigh as she reluctantly pulled away from him.

They went over to where Dusty had laid down on the floorboards. It was a familiar routine to lean back against her side. Katara watched as Zuko turned his back to her and curled in on himself.

How could she make him see that he had a choice, if only he would reach out and take it? He could be so much more than what he was raised to be.

"Zuko," she called to him softly.

He didn't move. "Hm?"

Katara shifted closer to him and put her hand on his shoulder. She could feel the tension in his muscles. Her heart pulled in her chest.

"I don't know if you're ready to hear this yet," she whispered. "But I'm going to come right out and say it: you are good, and you can do the right thing, Zuko."

He didn't react to her words, not even with a twitch. Katara waited for several moments, but when it became apparent that he wasn't going to respond, she let out a sigh before she rolled away.

She could try to say that the droplet of moisture that ran down her cheek was a raindrop leaking in from the roof, but she knew that it would be a lie.

The dawn broke grey and misty. The storm had let up sometime during the night, but fog had taken its place. It filled the canyon until it was barely visible from where Zuko stood atop their plateau, like a sea of smoke.

He sensed more than heard Katara approach from behind him. How strange it was to think how attuned he had become to her over the last few weeks. He saw her come to stand beside him on his right hand side, just like she had done last night. Perhaps she was just as intuitive as he was.

"My uncle says there is a village a few days from here," Zuko remarked without preamble as he continued to stare out over the canyon. "We can restock our supplies there."

"What are we going to do about my friends?" Katara asked him, her voice muted in the heavy air. "We haven't even come close to finding them."

"I know," Zuko said. His gaze flickered to her. "It may be time for us to part ways, Katara."

She looked up at him, shocked, her blue eyes widening. "What?"

Zuko dropped his gaze, unable to look at her. "My uncle and I were talking this morning. The Rough Rhinos will come for us again. My sister is still hunting us. We're traitors to the Fire Nation with a bounty on our heads. We'll keep getting attacked, and you'll be caught in the crossfire."

"Zuko—" Katara began, her voice thick.

His jaw clenched. Couldn't she make this easy for him? He didn't want to let her go, but it wasn't safe to be around him. It was dangerous. That was becoming abundantly clear. Nothing good had happened to her since they had formed their unlikely alliance.

"This world needs you," Zuko said quietly. "It needs you by the Avatar's side, and that can't happen if you're with me."

"You can come with me," she said, her voice rushed and breathless. "You can join Aang. You and your uncle can teach him firebending. He needs a firebending teacher. You can help him end the war—"

"And turn against my nation?" Zuko rounded on her, eyes burning. "Turn against my father?"

Katara stepped back, startled by the intensity of his gaze. Her bottom lip was trembling. She was afraid.

"You have to know that this war is wrong." Her voice shook. "You have the power to help end it, Zuko. I'm offering you a choice."

He was clenching his jaw so hard that it ached. Zuko looked away from her, unable to bear the look in her eyes. The possibilities. His emotions surged through him, confusing and tangled and painful.

"I can't," he managed to rasp out. "I want my throne. My honor. I want my life back." Zuko gestured around them. "This isn't for me. I'm not some peasant. I'm a damn prince. I shouldn't have to live like this."

"And how are you going to get your life back?" Katara demanded, her anger pushing through. "You're a traitor, remember? Your own sister is trying to arrest you! How are you going to come back from that? You can't. You have to move on!"

"You don't know anything!" Zuko roared furiously. "You're just a stupid peasant from the water tribes! What do you know about my family? Not a damn thing!"

Katara glared up at him. She jabbed an angry finger into his chest. "I know that family would never turn their backs on each other. My father would never send me into exile as a thirteen year old kid. And if he did, I would never want to go back."

Her eyes were sparking fury, burning into him. He didn't want to hear the words she was saying. Couldn't stand them, because he knew what she said was true.

"You're holding onto something that you can never get back, Zuko. What I'm offering is real. A chance to do something good. A chance to make the world better." She leveled him with her gaze. "If you want your honor back, that's how you do it."

Katara stomped away from him then, back towards the shack. Zuko felt like he was frozen in place, feeling more conflicted than he had before.